In News:

• US President Joe Biden indicated that he would use military force to defend Taiwan if it were ever attacked by China.
  • This was indicated by Biden at a news conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan during his visit to Tokyo.

What’s in Today’s Article:

• China – Taiwan Relation
• News Summary

In Focus: China-Taiwan Dispute

Geographical location of Taiwan:

• 
• Taiwan is located north of the Philippines and the South China Sea.
• It is about 180 km off the south-eastern coast of China.
• It is separated from the mainland by the Taiwan Strait.

Background

• The island seems to have first appeared in Chinese records in AD239, when an emperor sent an expeditionary force to explore the area.
  • This evidence is used by Beijing to back its territorial claim.
• After a relatively brief spell as a Dutch colony (1624-1661), Taiwan was administered by China's Qing dynasty from 1683 to 1895.
• In 1895, Japan won the First Sino-Japanese War, and the Qing government had to cede Taiwan to Japan.
  • After World War Two, Japan surrendered and relinquished control of territory.

Civil War

• When Japan surrendered, The Chinese Nationalist Party (also known as the Kuomintang) began ruling Taiwan with the consent of its allies, the US and UK.
  • Chiang Kai-shek was the ruler of this party.
• However, almost immediately following Japan’s surrender, the Chinese Civil War broke out between the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party (CPC).
• Chiang and the remnants of his Kuomintang government fled to Taiwan in 1949.

China-Taiwan Timeline (1949 onwards)

Disagreement and confusion about Taiwan

• China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province which it has vowed to retake, by force if necessary.
  • China has repeatedly insisted that Taiwan should be called “Chinese Taipei”, in efforts to prevent international recognition of Taiwan as a country.
• But Taiwan's leaders argue that it is a sovereign state. Taiwan continues to participate in international events and dialogues separately.
  • It has its own constitution, democratically-elected leaders, and about 300,000 active troops in its armed forces.

Who recognises Taiwan?

• Chiang Kai-shek's Republic of China (ROC) government held China's seat on the United Nations Security Council.
  • It was recognised by many Western nations as the only Chinese government.
• However, in 1971 the UN switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing and the ROC government was forced out.
• Since then, the number of countries that recognise the ROC government diplomatically has fallen drastically to about 15.

India-Taiwan relations

• India does not have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Like most countries, it maintains commercial ties with Taiwan.
• In 1995, New Delhi set up the India-Taipei Association (ITA) in Taipei to promote interactions between the two sides.
  • The aim of ITA was to facilitate business, tourism, and cultural exchanges.
  • ITA has also been authorized to provide all consular and passport services.
• In the same year, Taiwan too established the Taipei Economic and Cultural Centre in Delhi.

Recent relation Between India and Taiwan

• In 2018 India and Taiwan signed an updated bilateral investment agreement to expand economic ties.
• In 2019, India - Taiwan trade volume was US$7.2 billion.
  • Major Indian exports to Taiwan include waste oil, naptha, cereals, cotton, organic chemicals, copper, aluminum and food residues.
  • Major Taiwanese exports to India include integrated circuits, machinery and other electronic products.
• In May 2020, two members of the Indian Parliament virtually attended the newly re-elected President Tsai’s swearing ceremony.
• In October 2020, India gave approval to firms including Taiwan’s Foxconn Technology Group, Wistron Corp. and Pegatron Corp. to invest in India.
  • The idea is to attract investment worth more than 10.5 trillion rupees ($143 billion) for smartphone production over five years.

News Summary

• U.S. President Joe Biden said he would be willing to use force to defend Taiwan against Chinese aggression.
• By this announcement, US has signalled a shift away from its decades-long policy of so-called strategic ambiguity towards the East Asian democrac

Strategy of US towards Taiwan

• The strategy of US towards Taiwan is guided by the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.
• Under this act, US has long promised to help Taiwan defend itself, but it has stopped short of pledging to send troops or directly participate in any conflict.
• So far, US has followed a policy of strategic ambiguity on whether it would intervene militarily to protect Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack.
  • Although, Washington is required by law to provide Taiwan with the means to defend itself.

One China Policy of US

• ‘One China’ is a longstanding US policy that forms the bedrock of its relationship with Beijing.
• Under the policy, the US snapped formal diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (ROC) in Taiwan, and established ties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in Beijing in 1979.

Recent tension between China and Taiwan

• The current round of tensions between China and Taiwan began in October 2021, when China observes its National Day to mark the birth of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
• Coinciding with the 72nd anniversary celebrations, China flew over 100 fighter jets into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone.
  • This incident set off alarm around the world that it was prepping to take over the island by force.
  • Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and Beijing’s steadfast support of Russia in the face of global criticism has heightened these fears.
• Earlier in 2021, in order to build pressure on Taiwan, China banned the import of pineapples from Taiwan.