JOIN US'India should have pragmatic policies towards Taiwan'
New Delhi recognises only the People’s Republic of China (the mainland China) and not the RoC’s claim to be the legitimate government of territorial China. But ever since the two countries set up representative offices in each other’s capitals in 1995, the relations between them have grown. In an interview with Anirban Bhaumik of Deccan Herald, who was recently in Taipei, Taiwan’s foreign minister Timothy Yang expresses the hope that India would make its policies towards the RoC more flexible to boost the trade and economic ties. Excerpts:
How does Taiwan view its relations with India?
India’s rapid economic growth has of late outpaced that of Japan and the US by more than three-fold, demonstrating its strong potential for development. India, the largest country in south Asia, is also one of the four Bric nations. Therefore, Taiwan attaches great importance to its relations with India. Our government has encouraged Taiwanese enterprises to redirect investments into India, an economic powerhouse, to avoid putting all of Taiwan’s eggs in one basket, I mean mainland China. Premier Wu Den-yih has instructed government agencies to formulate concrete projects to boost investment in India and lessen dependence on mainland China market. We hope that India will reciprocate by adopting a more pragmatic and flexible policy towards Taiwan.
India-Taiwan trade is just about 1 per cent of your country’s total foreign trade. How can the two sides boost their bilateral trade?
Since we established representative offices in each other’s countries in 1995, all facets of our relations have grown steadily. Two-way trade has jumped from $930 million to a projected $5 billion this year, an incredible increase of 600 per cent. However, compared with Taiwan’s bilateral trade of $70 billion with southeast Asia and $200 billion with mainland China, clearly there is ample room for further development of trade relations.
We encourage Taiwanese business to invest in India. The most effective way to do this is to foster people’s understanding about India. Considering your country’s immense size and the higher concentration of Taiwanese in southern India, we hope to open another office there. Taiwanese make approximately nine million trips overseas every year, but primarily to the US, Japan, Europe and southeast Asia. With large number of Buddhists in our country and India being the cradle of Buddhism, your country has much to attract the Taiwanese. We are confident that Taiwanese tourists would flock to India, if visa waivers or landing visas could be arranged between us.
What’s the current status of Taipei-Beijing relations?
The Kuomintang government led by President Ma Ying-jeou is pursuing a flexible diplomatic policy, stressing that both sides of the Taiwan Strait have to face reality, pioneer a new future, shelve controversies and pursue a win-win situation. During the four rounds of cross-strait talks so far, 12 agreements and one MoU were concluded, covering direct air and sea transportation, direct postal service, opening of Taiwan to tourists from mainland China, financial cooperation and food safety.
Mainland China is Taiwan’s largest export destination. We hope both sides can sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) soon to boost two-way trade, safeguard the investments and intellectual property rights of Taiwanese business people, and attract more foreign investors to Taiwan. We hope that deepening economic and cultural cooperation with mainland China will help lay aside our prejudices and find a practical solution to cross-strait disputes.
How is Taiwan coping in the face of regional economic integration in Asia, after the implementation of the Asean-China FTA in Jan 2010?
The FTA between Asean and mainland China creates a free trade area with 1.8 billion people. In addition to its potential economic and commercial impact, it is likely to result in diplomatic and psychological marginalisation of Taiwan in the short term. To avoid this, we have concluded two rounds of negotiations with mainland China. We cannot allow ourselves to fall behind when regional integration gains momentum in Asia.
Do you think India could play a bigger role in East Asia?
Taiwan, India and mainland China are all in Asia. For the sake of regional peace and stable development, I firmly believe, no country is willing to see conflict here. Despite a few trade and border disputes, relations between mainland China and India have gradually improved. We would be happy to see both countries agree to shelve their differences to pave the way for closer bilateral relations.
India and Taiwan are both democratic countries and share the same values, so we hope that India will seize this opportunity to further develop Taiwan-India relations.
Was China’s protest against recent US arms sale to Taiwan a setback for thawing of Taipei-Beijing relations?
No. We believe that Beijing understands our need to upgrade our self-defence capabilities. We are grateful to President Barack Obama administration for reiterating US commitment to abide by its arms-sale obligations as per its Taiwan Relations Act. On Jan 29, 2010, the Obama administration officially notified Congress of the new arms sales package to Taiwan, reassuring us that the US is firmly behind us. This boosts our confidence and our ability to engage in peaceful dialogue with mainland China.