Taiwan to establish representative office in Mumbai, its third in India

Taiwan has announced the establishment of its third representative office in India. The newest Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) will come up in Mumbai to further advance substantive ties with India, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan announced on Thursday.

Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) is the term used to describe Taiwan’s de facto diplomatic missions because India does not maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The first representative office was established in New Delhi in 1995. The second TECC came up in Chennai in December 2012. India also has the India-Taipei Association (ITA) office in Taipei.

These facilities on both sides function as de facto diplomatic missions, responsible for promoting and facilitating cooperation in trade and investment, education, science and technology and tourism.

Significant progress in bilateral ties

In its statement, the Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the MoFA of Taiwan said that in recent years, cooperation between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the Republic of India has witnessed significant progress in numerous domains, including economics and trade, science and technology, critical supply chains, culture, education, and traditional medicine..

"In light of this development, the ROC (Taiwan) government will establish the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in Mumbai in order to further deepen exchanges and cooperation between the two countries," the press release said. It also mentioned that since the TECC in Chennai was set up in 2012, nearly 60% of all Taiwanese businesses investing and opening factories in India have chosen to develop their operations in southern India. Chennai and its surrounding areas have thus benefited from the investments made by Taiwanese manufacturing industries.

The establishment of the TECC in Mumbai is expected to have a similar effect in western India, the statement said. India became the world’s 5th largest economy in 2022 and also becomes the world's most populous nation. With its enormous market and related business opportunities, India has emerged as a major investment destination for global enterprises.

Taiwanese MoFA also said that the TECC in Mumbai will help expand mutually beneficial trade and investment opportunities between Taiwan and India. Under Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy, it will also promote exchanges and cooperation in science and technology, education, culture, and people-to-people ties between Taiwan and western India. The TECC in Mumbai will also provide visa services, document authentication, and emergency assistance to businesspeople, tourists, and Taiwanese nationals in the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh, as well as the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

Move significant in the prevailing scenario

Taiwan’s move comes at a time when India’s ties with China have been strained due to the three-year-old military standoff on the Line of Actual Control (LAC). In recent years, the Indian side has sought to invite Taiwan’s semiconductor majors as part of efforts to create chip manufacturing capabilities. India has been very keen on having a manufacturing facility for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC), the world's largest chipmaker whose clients include Apple.

Taiwan had earlier said that there is huge scope for collaboration between New Delhi and Taipei in areas of emerging and critical technologies. The Covid-19 pandemic has also exposed problems in the global supply chain. China has also displayed military aggression towards the self-governing island that China considers its own territory.

'Enormous appetite' to expand ties with India

During a recent interaction with an international media group, the Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu had said that Taiwan has an "enormous appetite" to expand ties with India. He called for firming up the proposed free trade agreement between the two sides and said that the FTA will be a "big encouragement" for Taiwanese companies to set up manufacturing bases in India.

FM Wu also said that Taiwan has been encouraging its companies that no longer find the Chinese market profitable to shift their production facilities to India as it is now a "rising power" and has been witnessing rapid economic growth.

The Deputy Minister for Taiwan's National Development Kao Shien-Quey had said that amid increasingly tense relations with China, leading Taiwanese technology firms are looking at relocating their manufacturing bases to India to bring down their exposure to the Chinese market.