China has made both India and Taiwan unhappy with its antics. With this the two democracies are growing closer and they can start formal negotiations on trade deals. Taiwan has wanted to negotiate a trade deal with India for many years, but the Indian government has been reluctant to do so. The reason for this is that India did not want to get angry with China.
But for the past few months, there have been elements within the government who favor trade deals with Taiwan. An official said the trade deal with Taiwan would help India attract more investment in technology and electronics. The official said that it was not clear when the final decision would be taken to start the negotiations.
In the same month, the Government of India approved several companies’ proposals for making smartphones. These include Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, Wistron Group and Pegatron Corp. A commerce ministry spokesman did not immediately comment. Taiwan’s top trade negotiator John Deng also did not respond to emails.
If direct trade talks with India begin, it will be a big win for Taiwan. Due to pressure from China, it has struggled to initiate trade deals with any major country. Like most countries, India has not given formal recognition to Taiwan. The two countries have unofficial diplomatic missions as representative offices. The two countries signed an updated bilateral investment agreement in 2018 to strengthen their economic ties. In 2019, trade between the two countries was up 18 percent to reach $ 7.2 billion.
