Asia-Pacific Security Environment and Cross-Strait Relations: Post-2008 Taiwan�s Presidential Election

General

The Centre for Land Warfare Studies (CLAWS) organised a seminar on “Asia-Pacific Security Environment and Cross-Strait Relations: Post-2008 Taiwan’s Presidential Election” on April 28, 2008. The seminar was chaired by Amb. Ranjit Gupta. The panel comprised Dr. Yeong Kung Ger (Professor, Department of Political Science, National Taiwan University), Dr. I Chung Lai (Secretary General, Taiwan-India Cooperation Council) and Dr. Srikant Kondapalli (Associate Professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University). A large number of serving and retired officers and members of the strategic community attended the seminar. The salient aspects and issues articulated/discussed during the seminar are given in succeeding paragraphs.

Dr. Yeong Kung Ger

• Taiwan should view China as a long term threat as China may seek to forcibly unify Taiwan.
• Taiwan wishes to contribute to peace and stability across Taiwan Straits which, in turn, enhance stability in the region.
• Taiwan’s policy is to maintain status quo between PRC and ROC. Both agree that there is one China but have separate interpretations for the same (1992 consensus).
• New Government’s interpretation is ‘No Unification-No Independence’ and no use of force against each other.
• Taiwan hopes to further improve its relations with the US and expects that the US will continue to sell arms and equipment to Taiwan and also enter into an FTA agreement.

Dr. I Chung Lai

• New Policy of Taiwan is to stabilise cross-strait relations. This would lead to Taiwan’s external relations being viewed less suspiciously by China. Taiwan puts cross- strait relations ahead of other foreign policy objectives.
• Taiwan has received diplomatic recognition from 23 nations and looks for similar recognition from India. But Taiwan accepts that it may not be possible.  
• Taiwan hopes that India’s relations with Taiwan will be parallel to those with China and will not be held hostage to Indo-Chinese relationship.
• Taiwan’s cooperation with the US and Japan are being viewed with concern by China.
• Bilateral relations between Taiwan and India can grow without harming India’s relations with China.
• India is an important trade partner of Taiwan; this relationship is growing rapidly.
• Within Taiwan there is no domestic consensus on unification with China.

Dr. Srikant Kondapali
• Balance of power alliances are still a feature of the Asia-pacific security environment.
• Immense mistrust among the countries of the North–east Asia has lead to hedging strategies being followed.
• Identity issues are increasingly coming to the fore in Tibet and Taiwan.
• Proliferation of Missile capabilities is contributing to regional instability.
• India is ready to join friendly countries to provide security in the Malacca straits.

Earlier, the Taiwanese delegation participated in an International Conference entitled “Taiwan in the 21st Century” that was organised by the Department of Political Science, Bangalore University, in collaboration with Taipei Cultural & Economic Centre, New Delhi. The report of the Conference is pasted below.

  
Report on the International Conference on “Taiwan in the 21st Century”

The Department of Political Science, Bangalore University in collaboration with Taipei Cultural & Economic Centre, New Delhi organized an international conference on the theme “Taiwan in the 21st Century”. Participants and the speakers for the conference were drawn from the members of academic and strategic community. The objective of the conference was to take stock of the developments in the field of emerging Indo-Taiwanese relationship. The conference highlighted the need for a robust Indo-Taiwanese engagement. Admiral P J Jacob (Retd.) inaugurated the conference. Prof. M D Nalapat delivered the keynote address. Mr. Andrew Hsia, Representative, Taiwan Economic and Cultural Centre in New Delhi also addressed the gathering.

The following salient points emerged during the two days conference:

• There is a growing interest and keenness in India and Taiwan to understand each other in the current international geopolitical and geo-economic contexts. The ongoing informal channels for improving bilateral relations in the domains of strengths need to be intensified.
•  The potential for cooperation exists from both sides and the existing potential has not been exploited sufficiently.
• India and Taiwan should have a perspective and realization about the ongoing China’s strategic modernization programme. China’s naval and mercantile marine power projections has an overwhelming impact and amounts to flexing its military muscles across the Taiwan Straits --- which envelops the island-nation’s maritime boundaries.
• It was acknowledged by both sides that greater awareness needs to be facilitated about the potential synergies. Taiwan is keen to engage India towards a robust economic partnership. Trade with India at the present has not been significant. It is less than one percent of Taiwan’s total trade; despite the potential to extend cooperation to other sectors of their national economies.
• Taiwanese investment in India has not been substantial, despite Taiwan’s excellent profile in the Asian continent. India and Taiwan have strong scope to converge on various spheres of economy, trade and technology.
• Taiwan cannot afford to ignore China because of the trade factor like India. Similarly India also cannot deviate from its ‘One-China’ policy. However New Delhi would have to simultaneously embark on deft economic diplomacy to engage with Taiwan.
• In an era of globalization and interdependence, economic interests often override other interests. There was a consensus among the participants to find ways to avoid stumbling blocks to forge robust India-Taiwan economic partnership.
• India and Taiwan would require formalizing their synergies in the service and manufacturing sectors. Besides the two sides need to consolidate prevalent IT industry strengths. Also Taiwan should be encouraged to invest in the energy and infrastructure sectors. The cooperation can continue without any formal regional trading arrangements like Preferential Trade Arrangements and Free Trade Area.
• India would require to have a counterpart of the existing institution called Taiwan-India Cooperation Council, which would facilitate the business community in greater detail to forge a robust commercial and cultural engagement.

There was a consensus in the group to hold an annual India – Taiwan dialogue on areas of mutual interest.