India-Taiwan ties - VISION

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Thursday, March 25, 2021

India-Taiwan ties

 Why in news?

Recently India and Taiwan are celebrating 25 years of their partnership.

What are the existing areas of cooperation?

  • Both the countries have deepened the mutual respect which is underpinned by openness, democracy.
  • They recognise diversity as the key principles for collective growth and share faith in freedom, human rights, justice and rule of law.
  • India and Taiwan already collaborate in the area of traditional medicine.
  • India’s has been in the forefront in fighting against COVID-19 and Taiwan’s handling of the pandemic and its support to other countries underlines the need to deepen cooperation in healthcare.
  • Now both countries can expand cooperation in the field of healthcare.

How can Taiwan support India?

  • Indian government is facing the huge challenge of maintaining air quality and stubble burning is an important reason for this.
  • Taiwan could be a valuable partner in dealing with this challenge through its bio-friendly technologies.
  • Such technologies can convert agricultural waste into value-added and environmentally beneficial renewable energy or biochemicals.
  • This will help in dealing with air pollution and also enhances farmers’ income.
  • Further, they can undertake joint research and development initiatives in the field of organic farming.

What are the other areas that both countries can cooperate?

  • Cultural exchange is the cornerstone of any civilisation exchange and India and Taiwan can deepen people-to-people connection.
  • This will appreciate another culture and helps in overcoming prejudices and cultural misunderstanding.
  • Tourism is another key tool in civilisation exchange and there are small numbers of Taiwanese tourists arriving to India.
  • To accelerate the flow of Taiwanese tourists, connectivity in Buddhist pilgrimage can be strengthened in addition to showcasing India’s incredible diversity.
  • Taiwan Tourism Bureau partnership with Mumbai Metro can raise awareness about Taiwan and increase the inflow of Indian tourists.

How can economic ties be deepened?

  • In 2018, both the countries signed a bilateral trade agreement in which was an important milestone in trade relations.
  • India has a huge market which provides Taiwan a huge investment opportunity.
  • Taiwan’s is the world leader in semiconductor and electronics which can complement India’s leadership in ITES (Information Technology-Enabled Services).
  • There are around 200 Taiwanese companies in the field of electronics, construction, petrochemicals, machine, ICT and auto parts operating in India.
  • Despite the huge potential, Taiwan investments have been meagre in India due to dismaying regulatory and labour regime.
  • But India’s recent strides in the ease of business ranking will provide Taiwan with lucrative business opportunities and mitigate its over-dependence on one country for investment opportunities.
  • Policymakers can coordinate with the business community to help them in navigating the regulatory landscape for better ties.
  • To make this relationship more meaningful, both sides can create a group of empowered persons to chart out a road map in a given time frame.

 

Source: The Hindu