Solidarity with Taiwan is need of the hour

China had surrounded the island nation of Taiwan and performed military drills on August 4. (Image: AFP)

United States house speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan has once again brought to light the capricious nature of the Indo-Pacific. The Great Powers’ politics of proving “solidarity” and defending “core interests” have created yet another Taiwan-Strait crisis.

While Xi’s China surrounds the island with threatening military drills, and attacks its economic health with targeted trade curbs, Taiwan is standing tall for itself, its identity, and its democracy.

As President Tsai Ing-wen calls upon the international community to support democratic Taiwan, a fellow-democracy is completing its 75 years of independence. An emerging power with growing influence on the global order, India’s approach to the east has matured with time.

On the multilateral stages of the QUAD and the ASEAN, India has persistently reiterated its steadfast commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific, and concurred with the need to follow the principles of the UN Convention for the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in the South China Sea region.

But at the same time, as an adherent of the One China policy, it has maintained studied silence with regard to the Taiwan cause.

India has had economic and cultural connections with Taipei since 1995; but to most of its populace as well as its leaders, Taiwan is a stranger. As the turbulence with China grows, India should not be overly cautious about China’s sensitivities over Taiwan, just as Beijing is not about India’s.

New Delhi should respond to Beijing’s muscular approach with an approach that includes relations with Taiwan. This was a recommendation made by the Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs (2017-18) in the wake of the Doklam crisis. But there is more to relations with Taiwan than the China factor.

Taiwan’s political and economic transformation has been exemplary.  From a resource-poor island to an advanced market economy with a vibrant democratic system — Taiwan’s achievements have come after years of subjugation and colonisation.

Its socio-economic policies, a thriving culture of innovation, robust civil society, and geopolitics, have helped make Taiwan what it is.

Today, Taiwan ranks third on economic freedom among 39 countries in the Asia-Pacific region; it is the 7th freest country in the world according to Freedom House.

Early emphasis on exports helped Taiwan grow from an agricultural to an industrialised economy. Timely investments in human resources and technological innovation made it a global leader in the production of cutting-edge semiconductors and integrated circuits.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is the world’s largest chip foundry with a market share of 53.6 percent in the first quarter of 2022. For some, it is Taiwan’s `silicon shield’ that tempers China’s military aggression and enhances diplomatic convergence with stakeholders.

Such a prominent position in global supply chains is certainly a bulwark against Chinese aggression; but so is Taiwan’s functional democracy.

Taiwan demonstrates that being culturally Chinese, or led by Confucian values, and being democratic, are not mutually exclusive. Taiwan’s democracy is shaped and sustained by its people and civil society, deeply rooted in local and community ties.

It has witnessed three peaceful transitions of power since democratic reforms were initiated in the 1990s.

With President Tsai’s public rejection of the so-called ‘1992 consensus’ on the one hand, and emphasis on Taiwanisation on the other, Beijing has exponentially heightened its disinformation campaign via news outlets and social media, in order to influence public opinion.

China’s cognitive warfare has intensified since the COVID outbreak, mostly targeting the Tsai administration and fueling political division on the island. China’s hostility towards Taiwan is intricate and multi-dimensional.

To counter its propaganda and political influence, Taiwan needs the support of other democracies and an equal-partner status on Indo-Pacific multilateral platforms to engage the international community.

Under its New Southbound Policy (NSP), Taipei has demonstrated its ambition to be an active and consequential stakeholder in south Asia’s future. India, with its enormous market potential and democratic polity, has captured bi-partisan attention in Taiwan.

Its current leadership views India not just as an attractive manufacturing site for Taiwanese companies, but as an influential democratic partner in Asia against the China challenge.

Taiwanese foreign minister Joseph Wu recently commended New Delhi for working with ``the biggest democracies in the Indo-Pacific to strengthen our abilities, to prevent possible encroachment.’’

Taipei attaches great importance to developing institutional and people-to-people linkages across political, economic, and cultural spheres to solidify the partnership.

With the Taiwanese education ministry’s focus on ‘international talent cultivation’, ties with India have gained momentum.

The growing number of Indian students in Taiwanese universities testifies to Taiwan’s soft and ‘smart’ power. But this progress should not be taken as a guarantee of enduring ties, since cultural differences and lack of awareness about each other remain.

As Chinese aggression increases in the region, India and Taiwan should raise a united voice against Beijing’s adventurism in the Indo-Pacific. But their relationship should also be more than a response to China. States with shared democratic values need to have strong economic and cultural ties for mutual prosperity and greater democracy.