TESTING TIMES

Time to play the
Taiwan card
At a time when the dragon is breathing fire, India must explore
alternative tactics, perhaps establishment of formal diplomatic ties
with Taiwan can be a landmark step
Prashant Tewari
The standoff on the Ladakh border
between the Indian Army
and the PLA (People’s Liberation
Army) continues amid failing
talks and casus belli measures being
unleashed by the Chinese regime.
While the union government and
the armed forces make it clear that
they will do whatever it takes to protect
India’s sovereignty and integrity,
precious little has been done on
the foreign policy front. While India
and its democratic allies which comprise
the Quad security grouping declare
their intent to form the ‘Asian
NATO’, the Quad continues to suffer
from indecisiveness which was pretty
much evident when the Quad did
not even issue a joint statement to
condemn China at the foreign ministers
meeting held last year, only
America publicly called out China.
In such a situation, it is imperative
that India explore alternate
diplomatic and militaristic routes to
tame the dragon.
Recognizing Taiwan
Establishing formal diplomatic
ties with Taiwan after recognizing
should be vigorously pursuing by
South Block. Indo-Taiwan ties date
back to the early 1950s when Chiang
Kai Shek, the ex Chinese president
and former head of state fled to the
island of Formosa following the
victory of Mao Zedong in the long
drawn out Chinese civil war called
on Nehru to establish and further
ties with Formosa, however Nehru
believing that Chiang was nothing
but a “peanut” decided to ignore his
call, choosing instead to concentrate
on building ties with People’s Republic
of China (PRC).
Seven decades on, plethora of
changes has taken place on the foreign
affairs front, while both China
and India have developed considerably
both militarily and economically
the dragon has surpassed elephant to
become an economic powerhouse in
its own might. It has now embraced
aggressiveness to enforce its 5th
century vision of the ‘Middle Kingdom’.
In such a situation providing
legitimacy to the existence of Taiwan
is a necessary first step.
Paradigm shift in policy
Establishing formal diplomatic
ties with Taiwan will bring about a
paradigm shift vis-à-vis India’s foreign
policy. It will enforce the idea
42 July 2021 Opinion Express