TENSIONS
IN TAIWAN STRAIT – INTERNATIONAL
News:
China launches military
drills around Taiwan as ‘stern warning’
What's
in the news?
●
The Chinese military launched drills
around Taiwan as a “stern warning” over what it called collusion between
“separatists and foreign forces,” its Defence Ministry said, days after the
island's vice president stopped over in the United States.
China-Taiwan
Relations:
●
Taiwan
is an island territory across the Taiwan Strait, located
off the coast of mainland China.
●
The ruling Kuomintang (Nationalist)
government of China fled to Taiwan after being defeated by the communist forces
in the Chinese civil war of 1945-1949.
●
Following the split of China and Taiwan in
the civil war, the Republic of China
(ROC) government was relocated to Taiwan. On the other hand, the Communist
Party of China (CPC) established the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in
the mainland.
●
Since then, the PRC observes Taiwan as a
traitor province and awaits reintegration with Taiwan, if possible, by peaceful
means.
●
PRC allied itself with the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR) and ROC with the US in the cold war further
straining the China-Taiwan relations.
●
Currently, only 13 countries recognise Taiwan as a sovereign country.
Significance
of Taiwan to the world:
●
Much of the world’s global supply chain of semiconductors is reliant on Taiwan.
●
Further, its contract manufacturers
together accounted for more than 60% of total global semiconductor revenue in
2021.
Relevance
to China:
Economic
cooperation:
●
China and Taiwan’s economies are
inextricably linked.
●
China
is Taiwan’s biggest export partner, with an export value of
515 billion dollars from 2017 to 2022, more than double the US, which was the
next biggest partner.
Geographic
Aspect:
●
Taiwan is much closer to mainland China
than the other islands, and has been claimed by Beijing since Nationalists were
driven there during the Chinese revolution in 1949.
Relevance
to the United States:
●
Taiwan anchors a chain of islands which
includes a list of US-friendly territories that the US is planning to use as a
place of leverage for countering China’s expansionist plans.
●
The US does not have official diplomatic
ties with Taiwan but is bound by US law (Taiwan Relations Act, 1979) to provide
the island with the means to defend itself.
●
It is by far the largest arms dealer for
Taiwan and follows a ‘strategic
ambiguity’
Stand
of India on the Taiwan Issue:
India-Taiwan
Ties:
Backdrop:
●
As a part of India’s Act East Foreign Policy, India has sought to cultivate
extensive ties with Taiwan in trade and investment as well as developing
co-operation in science & technology, environment issues and
people-to-people exchange.
●
India and Taiwan do not have formal
diplomatic relations but since 1995, both sides have maintained representative
offices in each other’s capitals that function as de facto embassies.
●
Since
1949, India has accepted the One China policy that accepts Taiwan and Tibet as
part of China.
●
Even though India has stopped mentioning
its adherence to One China policy in joint statements and official documents
since 2010, its engagement with Taiwan is still restricted due to the framework
of ties with China.
●
India and other major powers must
establish a red line for any Chinese attempt to annex Taiwan militarily. After
all, the Taiwan issue is not simply a moral one about enabling a totalitarian
state to destroy a successful democracy or a matter of international ethics
about adhering to the concept of peaceful resolution of disputes.
●
While following the One-China policy,
India has an office in Taipei for diplomatic
functions - India-Taipei Association (ITA) is headed by a senior diplomat.
Taiwan has the Taipei Economic and
Cultural Center (TECC) in New Delhi. Both were established in 1995.
●
Their ties focus on commerce, culture and
education. Now in their third decade, these have been deliberately kept
low-profile, owing to China’s sensitivities. For example, parliamentary
delegation visits and legislature-level dialogues have stopped since 2017,
around the time the India-China border standoff happened in Doklam.
Bilateral
relations:
The bilateral relations
between India and Taiwan have improved since the 1990s, despite both nations
not maintaining official diplomatic relations.
Commercial
ties:
Both governments have
launched efforts to significantly expand bilateral trade and investment,
especially in the fields of information technology (IT), energy,
telecommunications and electronics.
Cultural
exchanges:
Buddhism
is the most widely practiced religion in Taiwan, usually alongside elements of
Daoism, and Bollywood films have in recent years gained a reasonably popular
following, along with other aspects of Indian culture such as yoga, cuisine and
Indian dance.
Trade:
Taiwan’s relations with
India have increased in breadth spanning trade, research and academia, as well
as depth trade ties, which amounted to $7.5 billion in 2019, up from $1 billion
in 2000.
Taipei
Economic and Cultural Center in India (TECC):
●
The Taiwanese government has a
representative office namely the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India
(TECC) which oversees the collaboration on different fronts like education,
tourism, culture, the media, and economic development.
●
Taiwan’s increased investments have
occurred in the face of cultural challenges, bureaucratic hurdles, and pressure
on India from domestic producers.
Free
trade Agreement:
India has suggested the
possibility of a free trade agreement with Taiwan although this decision is not
without precedent as Taiwan maintains economic cooperation agreements (ECAs)
with New Zealand and Singapore, both unofficial relationships.
Implications
of the rising tensions for India:
●
With India facing its own problems with
China on the LAC, there have been suggestions that it should review its One
China Policy.
●
It has in any case long stopped
reiterating this officially and uses not just the Tibet card, but also develops
more robust relations with Taiwan to send a message to China.
●
India and Taiwan currently maintain “trade
and cultural exchange” offices in each other’s capitals.