Anwesha Dash, Pune
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister (FM), Lin Chia-Lung in a press conference on the National Day of the country, said that India is “especially important” for the nation in their efforts of establishing relations with other countries across the Indo-Pacific region who are in agreement to challenge China’s expansionism and counter its provokation of global rules based order.
As the tensions between Taiwan and China escalate regarding the former country’s autonomy, the issue has taken a centre-stage in global politics. Apart from Taiwan, China’s interference in the East and South China Sea is also being keenly observed by its rivals, but more specifically Japan and the Philippines. Therefore, to counter the country’s expansion plans on disputed territory and to establish a non-China supply chain, many like-minded countries are joining hands.
Taiwan, another region which is hugely affected by China’s interference, is also keen on setting an accord with the rivals of the latter nation. Taiwan wants to work in a different league of nations such as G7, Five Eyes, AUKUS and Quad. By cooperating with these leagues, the FM hopes that a cohesive front and a united defence mechanism will be put into place to counter China’s dominance.
Out of all these leagues though, Lin considers India to be “especially important”. He further said there is an increase of cooperation between them and India on semiconductor majors. FM Lin revealed that this is a part of the new foreign policy which will highlight the establishment of a security alliance chain, a democratic process chain and a supply chain- all of which will be non-China in their structure and function.
Amidst these announcements of new foreign policy, tensions between Taiwan and China are brewing again. Taiwan’s national defence ministry observed an increase in China’s military related activities near its territory. As per their report, around 8 naval vessels and more than ten aircrafts were seen operating near their region. An increase of Chinese military activity near Taiwan’s territory has been observed since the start of October this year. The defence ministry’s report says that in this month alone around 68 aircrafts have flown near Taiwan.