India-Taiwan Recent Engagements
A recent tweet by the President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen has won many Indian hearts as she expressed her fondness for Indian food. In that tweet, she mentioned that her favorite Indian dish is Chana Masala with Naan and also shared a palatable picture of the dish. It is not a new phenomenon for the President to pour her heart out for the Indian culture. Previously, she has also tweeted a picture of her with the Taj Mahal. She has constantly tried reaching out to the Indian audience by greeting Indians with ‘Namaste’ and expressing her gratitude for following her on Twitter.
Although India may not have formally declined the ‘One China Policy’, a change in the India-Taiwan relationship is gradually noticeable. Indians deciding to celebrate Taiwanese National Day with full of noise and uproar marks a new beginning in the people to people connect between the two thriving democracies. On October 10, posters about the Taiwanese National Day were put up near the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi. Formally, India has also employed a senior diplomat, Gourangalal Das to serve as the new envoy to Taiwan.
This closeness between India and Taiwan is like an eyesore to China. China disapproves of this relationship and repeatedly asks India not to interfere in China’s internal affairs. However, Taiwan has come up with a befitting reply and simply asked the PRC to ‘get lost’ when China indirectly warned the Indian media. Both Taiwan and India are following the notion which states that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”. Both states have a common enemy i.e. China. India-China face off at the LAC and China flying its fighter jets over Taiwan are some examples of recent skirmishes of both countries with China.
It is expected for both India and Taiwan to work on strengthening their relationships in different sectors. Lately, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu has rooted for intelligence sharing with India. Taiwan also aspires to cooperate with India in the supply chain, health, and security-related areas. Through friendly cooperation, both countries would be able to contain China and its impeding ambitions.
However, has the relationship between the two democracies reached a point where India is ready to put the famous proverb 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' in place is yet to be seen.