India – Taiwan Relations: Prospects and Opportunities in Current Times
Event Summary:
The Peninsula Foundation (TPF) and the Department of Defence and Strategic Studies (DODASS), University of Madras jointly conducted a roundtable discussion on the topic “India – Taiwan Relations: Prospects and Opportunities in Current Times” at the University of Madras. The guest speaker for the discussion was Dr Mumin Chen, Deputy Representative of Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre (TECC), New Delhi. The event was chaired by Air Marshal M Matheswaran AVSM VM PhD (Retd), President, The Peninsula Foundation and moderated by Dr Mallika Joseph, Senior Fellow, Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace (WISCOMP) and Visiting Fellow, Centre for Policy Research (CPR).
Air Marshal Matheswaran set the tone for the discussion with his opening remarks that touched upon the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the increasing number of skirmishes in the South China Sea (SCS), the visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives – Nancy Pelosi – to Taiwan and the upcoming 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on October 16. He stated that the whole world was in a flux and that there is an urgent need to transform and rationalise the international world order – one that is multipolar with equitable power distribution. The new world order must challenge and end Eurocentric domination. He commented that in this changing environment, it was important to engage with countries that were mutually beneficial to each other. Taiwan is significant in that regard for India and presents numerous opportunities for collaboration – particularly in business and the semiconductor technology industries and manufacturing. Trade and people-to-people relations between India and Taiwan need to increase. He also stated that while China poses a security threat to both Taiwan and India, their trade figures do not reflect this. In fact, China is one of India’s biggest trading partners and Taiwan remains China’s top export destination. Not only trade balance but strategic interests, national interests and geopolitical interests must also be given equal weightage in assessing India-Taiwan relations.
Dr Mumin Chen’s commenced his talk with a brief history of Taiwan by covering the country’s demographic details. He highlighted how Taiwan and Mainland China share many cultural similarities and that, presently, Taiwan faces the problem of an ageing population; average age being 42.3 years compared to India’s average age of 27-28 years. An ageing society is a problem endemic to East Asia with Japan, South Korea and even China facing it currently. He stated that Taiwan’s strength lies in its technological prowess and economic power and substantiated by figures on Taiwan’s GDP and exports. Nearly 70% of the microchips in electronic devices across the world come from Taiwan. Taiwan has focused on developing into a high-tech society by establishing science parks, as being an island with limited natural resources is a factor that propelled the country to focus on technology development.
Dr Chen commented that there is a clear lack of understanding of what Taiwan is in India and is often hyphenated with China. Taiwanese themselves often face an identity crisis of whether they are Chinese or Taiwanese. This question has devolved into a political debate. Being Taiwanese is indicative of voicing support for an independent Taiwan. He states that, over the years, there has been a rising percentage of voices calling for independence. Historically, Taiwan has never been a part of China. Contrary to popular belief, the first government in Taiwan was not the Chinese but was in fact the Dutch. Taiwan was a Dutch colony between 1624 and 1662 post which the Chinese empire gained control. Later, when China and Japan went to war, the Japanese captured Taiwan.
Taiwan continues to face the full force of Chinese aggression anytime the West or any other country recognises it as an independent nation. China’s refusal to acknowledge its independence has made diplomatic ties with Taiwan difficult as it has no membership in the UN and no official diplomatic relations with a majority of the countries. Dr. Chen attributes Taiwan’s survival in spite of being a small island to the US’s continued support of it – politically, economically and militarily. The US’s strategy has been to maintain the status quo in its relations with Taiwan. He also comments on the fact that there is no question of whether China will or will not use force in the event of a declaration of independence from Taiwan and it is for this reason that there is no consensus on this matter. Taiwan is both conscious and cautious about maintaining the existing status quo with China and the US as it serves the interests of all involved.
Dr Mumin Chen also stated that China’s military drills are not a new phenomenon and that Taiwan is not unprepared for future such events. He comments on the fact that China picked the worst strategy for its plans of reunification of Taiwan into the mainland. Following Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China announced a military exercise the next day. There were 1000 incursions into Taiwan’s ADIZ in 2021 alone. China’s growing aggression is a destruction of the status quo. The professor’s assessment of China’s actions in the median line across the Taiwan strait, in the SCS and India-China border is that the country is changing the status quo.
Taiwan set up its first office in New Delhi in 1995, the TECC and in 2012, set up another office in Chennai. These offices are the only representative offices of Taiwan in South Asia. Entry of Taiwan companies into India happened late – in 1991 when the Indian economy opened up. This number has steadily begun to grow. Today, almost 80% of Taiwanese companies invest in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. He commented that compared to China, India’s bilateral trade with Taiwan is too low. Major companies like Foxconn and Megatron have a major presence in Chennai.
Taiwan continues to find avenues for cooperation between the two. In terms of people-to-people exchanges, there are a lot of cultural differences between India and Taiwan. The number of Indians living in Taiwan is also very low. Tamil Nadu has the largest number of Indian students studying in Taiwan. He commented that the Taipei cultural centres served as opportunities for students to learn Mandarin. Taiwan also remains interested in defence support from India as Dr Chen mentioned Taiwan’s requirement for a submarine.
Following the conclusion of Dr Chen’s remarks, questions were raised on the supply chain of rare earth minerals, the conflict between possessing a dual identity and possible reconciliation of the same and the referendum, Taiwan’s security strategy vis-a-vis China, the media narrative in India during Pelosi’s visit, Taiwan’s position on the Indo-Pacific and the border conflicts between India and China, the New Southbound Policy and Taiwan’s vulnerability to climate change and its water supply.
The Air Marshal’s concluding remarks emphasised how the relationship between India and China is one of conflict and coexistence and how important it is to de-hyphenate China and Taiwan so that India can strengthen its strategic partnership with Taiwan.