The prospects of a deeper India-Taiwan cooperation in the evolving dynamics of the Indo-Pacific

This discussion will take place from 10:00 to 11:45 a.m. IST. Please note that registration is on a first come, first served basis. If your registration is successful, you will receive a confirmation email and a link through which you can join the webinar.

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Long ignored for fear of incurring the wrath of Beijing, the time is ripe for a recalibration of India’s relationship with Taiwan. India and Taiwan are natural allies in many respects: both share democratic values, uphold human rights and the rule of law, and recognise the benefits of a rules-based international order. India’s relations with Taiwan have been on an upward trajectory and this does present an opportunity for India to leverage its ties with Taiwan vis-à-vis Beijing. Taiwan’s successful handling of the pandemic has led it to draw support from some major global players and some are even recalibrating their Taiwan policy. At the 2020 Yushan Forum, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen highlighted the significance of the New Southbound Policy and reiterated the spirit of “Taiwan helps Asia, and Asia helps Taiwan,” a slogan Tsai has promoted on several occasions. She also pointed to Southeast Asia and India as particular focus points for the policy. Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and India’s Act East policy are closely aligned. Tsai had commented that, “Working together, these initiatives can achieve mutual benefits with complementary economic and social successes.” Meanwhile, India’s Indo-Pacific vision is “inclusive in nature and is based on cooperation and collaboration, given the need for shared responses to the shared challenges in the strategically important region.” It is time for New Delhi to be more alert and aware of the strategic importance of Taiwan and the benefits of more comprehensive bilateral ties. Fear of provoking Beijing has historically worked to repel collaboration and the challenge is how to balance such a delicate matter still persists. There are many avenues that India can explore in its ties with Taiwan without being needlessly defensive. Indian policy experts have also pointed out that the objective behind the deepening India-Taipei ties should not only be seen as a counter-measure to contain a rising China, there is need to now to look at this budding bilateral relationship under the garb of a broader lens — mainly in the context of Taiwan also being an important stakeholder in the emerging dynamics of the Indo-Pacific region. Taiwan is willing to partner with major stakeholders in the Indo-Pacific to ensure regional stability and peace. This webinar aims to look at the India-Taiwan cooperation under the lens of the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific. How engaging with Taiwan can further help in ensuring a peaceful and stable regional order in the Indo-Pacific? Taiwan has been very keen in further strengthening its engagement with India under its New Southbound policy, therefore what are the areas of cooperation the two should be working upon to give more heft to India’s “inclusive” Indo-Pacific vision as well are the broad questions which this webinar will attempt to delve into.

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This event is being held in partnership with the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), Taiwan.

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Programme

10:00 – 10:15 a.m. | Opening remarks | Sunjoy Joshi, Chang Chuang-chang 10:15 – 11:00 a.m. | Session I — India and Taiwan: Assessment of the Indo-Pacific Region | Premesha Saha, I-Chung Lai, and Harsh V. Pant (moderator) 11:00 – 11:45 a.m. | Session II — Prospects of India-Taiwan cooperation to promote common interest and strengthen partnership in the Indo-Pacific Region | Sana Hashmi, Roger Liu, and Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan (moderator)