India And Taiwan

The book is a collection of eleven essays by eminent Indian and Taiwanese scholars, as well as research scholars who look at the multifaceted relationship between India and the Republic of China and contemporary Taiwan from strategic, trade, economics, educational and cultural perspectives.

Covers a wide spectrum of India-Taiwan relations in bilateral and regional contexts and beyond. The book promotes a possible strategic deliberation that the importance of India-Taiwan relation may not necessarily be confined to the bilateral context. It contextualises the vitality of Asia and beyond in India-Taiwan relations and analyses potential areas of strength where they can cooperate in the future.

At publication date, a free ebook version of this title will be available through Luminos, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. China’s relation to Taiwan has been in constant contention since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in October 1949 and the creation of the defeated Kuomintang (KMT) exile regime on the island two months later. The island’s autonomous sovereignty has continually been challenged, initially because of the KMT’s insistence that it continue to represent not just Taiwan but all of China—and later because Taiwan refused to cede sovereignty to the then-dominant power that had arisen on the other side of the Taiwan Strait. One thing that makes Taiwan so politically difficult and yet so intellectually fascinating is that it ­­is not merely a security problem, but a ganglion of interrelated puzzles. The optimistic hope of the Ma Ying-jeou administration for a new era of peace and cooperation foundered on a landslide victory by the Democratic Progressive Party, which has made clear its intent to distance Taiwan from China’s political embrace. The Taiwanese are now waiting with bated breath as the relationship tautens. Why did détente fail, and what chance does Taiwan have without it? Contributors to this volume focus on three aspects of the evolving quandary: nationalistic identity, social economy, and political strategy.

Though considerable research literature is now available on China–India relations, most of it still follows a conventional narrative, viewing the relationship through the narrow conflictual prism limited to South Asia than in the new, larger perspective, especially in the context of emerging East Asian dynamics. This book offers comprehensive analyses of some of these issues in papers addressing two broad themes. One, significant trends in the relationship between China and India on a range of issues, including economic development models, their military strategies, and the boundary dispute; and two, how others are responding to the rise of India and China and their impact on East Asia. Together, the chapters constitute a comprehensive study on both China–India relations and their concurrent rise, including a variety of perspectives and methodologies. Written by some of the top experts on the subject from India, China, Japan, and Taiwan and covering a broad range of issues, the book will generate considerable interest in understanding this relatively neglected dimension of today’s East Asia.

The partnership between India and Taiwan is situated in a virtual maze of complex political factors. Given the core issue of contestation of Taiwan’s political status in world affairs and India’s adherence to the “One China” policy, the relationship remains a fragile one for both partners. In recent years, Taiwan has signed the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with Mainland China. Increasingly, its political and economic future (including its relationships with countries such as India) will continue to be linked with Mainland China. This book closely examines the partnership between India and Taiwan within the new post-ECFA setting that Taiwan finds itself in. It explicates the shifts and continuities in Taiwan’s economic relationship with Mainland China, discusses how partnership with India could become a crucial pivot of Taiwan’s foreign policy in the coming years, and argues why this partnership is vital for the “take-off ” of India’s own economic growth targets. The book identifies specific avenues for India and Taiwan to benefit from the economic growth success stories that they have come to represent over these years and outlines policy realignments that could allow India and Taiwan to best realize their mutuality of interests.

India and Taiwan have historically maintained ‘unofficial’ ties. There have been notable shifts in recent years, as seen in the creation of representative offices in both that serve de facto as embassies. Today the two are aiming to foster more robust economic ties. The COVID-19 pandemic, China’s assertive behaviour, and the growing significance of Taiwan in regional geopolitics, have prompted India to pay greater attention to the island nation. At the same time, under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Taiwan is actively working to expand its engagements with its neighbours to reduce reliance on China, resist its economic coercion, and counteract attempts to shrink Taiwan’s international space. This ORF-TAEF report evaluates the current state of commercial ties between India and Taiwan, and offers policy recommendations to bolster engagements.

Contributed articles presented at a conference titled 'Taiwan Today' organized by the Department of East Asian Studies, University of Delhi in January 2007

In a concerted effort to expand Taiwan’s presence across the Indo-Pacific, President Tsai Ing-wen has introduced the New Southbound Policy (NSP) to strengthen Taipei’s relationships with the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), six states in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan), Australia, and New Zealand. The policy is designed to leverage Taiwan’s cultural, educational, technological, agricultural, and economic assets to enhance Taiwan’s regional integration. This report tracks the ongoing implementation of the NSP and assesses what has been achieved since Tsai was elected in January 2016.