India-Taiwan Relations

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  • When the Taiwanese Came Calling: Chinese Reaction and the Indian Response

    Clarity, firmness and sticking to the positive territory of the relations have to be essential elements in India’s approach towards Taiwan.

    March 03, 2017

    India-Taiwan Relations in Asia and Beyond: The Future

    India-Taiwan Relations in Asia and Beyond: The Future
    • Publisher: Pentagon Press

    This volume is an outcome of the conference that the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA) in collaboration with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) held in New Delhi on 8 December 2015 at IDSA. The conference was organised in New Delhi to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of their respective Representative Offices in Taipei and New Delhi by India and Taiwan.

    • ISBN 978-81-8274-904-7,
    • Price: ₹. 995
    • E-copy available
    2016

    Assessing Power Transition in Taiwan: From KMT to DPP

    Assessing Power Transition in Taiwan: From KMT to DPP

    The return of DPP to power is a significant development from the point of view of cross-strait relations and security in East Asia. Given its growing thrust on ‘Act East’, India needs to take note of the political shift in Taiwan and its likely impact at the wider regional level.

    June 01, 2016

    Transforming India-Taiwan Relations : New Perspectives

    Transforming India-Taiwan Relations : New Perspectives

    Strengthening people-to-people relations is the best way forward for enhancing India-Taiwan relations. The normalisation in the Cross-Strait relations provides an opportunity for India and Taiwan to further deepen their functional ties.In keeping with these ideas, this monograph presents a broad roadmap by retelling the forgotten stories of the past and providing a base for discussing the present and the future.

    2014

    Sanket Telang asked: Why doesn't India develop better ties with Taiwan? Can't we use it as Leverage against China?

    Jagannath P. Panda replies: India has good relations with Taiwan. But the scope for improvement in security and strategic issues is limited because of official/diplomatic constraints. Officially, India endorses the ‘one-China’ policy. That means, India officially acknowledges the legitimacy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the legitimate entity of both ‘mainland China and Taiwan’. Despite this, India-Taiwan relations have expanded at commercial, cultural and scientific levels.

    Using Taiwan against China was an old strategic choice for India. India didn’t really focus on this aspect when the pro-independence movement was at its peak during the DPP regime in Taiwan. Nevertheless, I am not sure if India would like to pursue this strategy in future. Taiwan is slowly moving towards mainland China; and sooner or later both the PRC and Taiwan would be preparing the ground for unification. In that context, it is incorrect to argue that India can use Taiwan as leverage against China. One must not forget here that the USA has followed this type of strategy with Taiwan over the years, but not been quite successful in its China policy.

    Positive Trends in Cross-Strait Relations

    Democracy came to Taiwan under the leadership of Chiang Ching-Kuo, which brought an end to almost four decades of one-party dictatorship. Chiang Kai‐Shek had harboured the dream of overtaking the whole of China and establishing the rule of Kuomintang (KMT). But with the passage of time and a shift in the international political scenario, he realized that this would not be possible.

    September 2009

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