Tien, Chung-kwang
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of China (Taiwan)
February 25, 2022
(As Prepared for Delivery)
Ladies and gentlemen:
Good afternoon! Namaste!
It is a great pleasure to attend today's event to release and discuss the sixth TAEF Research Series report, Strategizing India-Taiwan Relations. On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan), I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation for publishing insightful research from experts from a variety of fields.
In 2016, President Tsai Ing-wen announced the New Southbound Policy, which identified India as a main partner country. In recent years, Taiwan and India have explored more collaboration opportunities in such areas as trade, education, culture, and science, creating mutually beneficial outcomes.
Newly released data show that bilateral trade last year reached a record high of 7.7 billion US dollars, an increase of 64 percent over 2020. To date, nearly 130 Taiwanese companies have set up factories in India, investing over 2.3 billion US dollars in such industries as ICT, medical devices, and machinery.
Meanwhile, Taiwan has established 24 Taiwan Education Centers throughout India. These centers not only help Indian students learn Mandarin, but also introduce higher education opportunities in Taiwan.
Since 2007, 94 joint research projects have been successfully implemented in the field of science and technology. These examples highlight the fact that Taiwan-India relations have made great strides in a wide range of areas in recent years.
We have made incredible achievements, and there is a lot more we can do together. That is why the TAEF has published its newest policy report on Taiwan-India relations. This report comprises 18 articles written by Taiwanese and Indian officials and experts from different fields. It examines the current state of our bilateral relations and offers valuable policy advice.
I would like to echo the article written by Director General Gourangalal Das, in which he stresses that “commonalities and complementarities drive our partnership.” For instance, both Taiwan and India boast democratic systems and multicultural societies. Just as Taiwan seeks to strengthen ties with ASEAN members and South Asian countries through its New Southbound Policy, India has been forging connections with neighboring countries through its Act East Policy. Clearly, our external relations policies are highly complementary and could be synchronized to make even greater contributions to a free and open Indo-Pacific.
I would also like to acknowledge another article written by distinguished Professor Srikanth Kondapalli, in which he stated that “The prospects for India's Act East Policy and Taiwan's New Southbound Policy to complement each other are immense.” Both India and Taiwan are attempting to contribute in establishing the rules-based order in the Indo-Pacific region. As a result, Taiwan's and India's profile in the region have been enhanced, interactions at the bilateral and multilateral levels are intensified, and trade and investments are expanded, too. Taiwan and India have been making efforts to synergize their commonalities in a number of areas of mutual interest, such as trade and investment, education and talent build-up, Mandarin language training, maritime cooperation, and more. However, despite such prospects for synergies, India and Taiwan are aware of the constraints in bilateral relations by the so called “One-China Policy”. Even though India has not reiterated its “One China Policy” since 2010, New Delhi is yet to adopt a revised Taiwan Policy. The author noted in his article that the United States has lifted self-imposed restrictions from its Taiwan Policy since 2019. I encourage India to consider taking the similar steps towards that direction.
Last year, against the backdrop of global and regional supply chain restructuring, Prime Minister Modi stated that trusted sources, transparency, and time frame are three critical factors in improving global supply chains. As Taiwan is determined to build resilient supply chains and deepen its economic relations and technical cooperation with India, I firmly believe that our trusted partnership will become even more robust and stronger in the years to come. As India plays a critical role in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, by working together with like-minded partners like Taiwan, I believe we can effectively tackle the challenges we face and contribute to regional peace and stability and the rules-based international order.
I would like to take this opportunity to share some exciting news with everyone: Today, as we are having a Taiwan-India workshop in Taiwan, our Representative Office and the US Embassy and Consulates in India are holding a Global Cooperation and Training Framework hybrid event there for the first time. This shows that we can always find innovative ways to deepen our bilateral partnership and explore new cooperation opportunities.
In closing, I would like to once again express my deep appreciation to the TAEF for collecting 18 valuable and insightful articles on strategizing India-Taiwan relations. I wish this workshop every success. Thank you.