Chung-Kwang Tien, Ambassador of Taiwan to India, said his country is pushing for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India based on a feasibility study conducted in 2013. In an interview with BusinessLine , he said Taiwan was keen on a level-playing field in India while competing with countries such as Korea and Japan.
Taiwan is primarily an export-led economy, yet your exports to India have remained in a lower range – $5-$7 billion – in the past five years. Do you feel there is more potential in bilateral trade ties?
Taiwan is a shallow economy. Without exports, its economy probably will not be sustainable. So, we want to diversify our investments from China as well as Southeast Asian countries to India.
But, again, we came into the Indian market much after Japan and Korea. But, that does not mean we will never catch up.
So are you then looking at a comprehensive trade pact similar to the one India has with Japan and Korea?
The trade volume between India and Taiwan has increased five to six times between 2000-01 and 2015-16. But, an FTA is the next thing that we our going to ask the Indian government to look at seriously. Both nations had even completed a feasibility study in 2013, which said that there is scope for cooperation in sectors such as ICT, automobiles, food processing and logistics.
But, we have to institutionalise this into a trade agreement because we are not on a level-playing field in competing with some other countries.
What have you proposed to the government to correct the situation?
We are asking the Indian government to start from somewhere, even though we might sign the trade pacts in five to six years.
Do you think India will be keen on an FTA with Taiwan considering that we are committed to a ‘One China’ policy?
Well, political moves should not act as a hindrance to business. For mutual benefit, we should put political considerations aside.
But, Taiwan is not part of any mega trade pact, be it the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) or Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). Is that a conscious decision?
We are working very hard to be a part of RCEP and TPP, because these constitute a big chunk of our market. In this regard, we would also ask the Indian government to help us in RCEP.
What about investments from Taiwan? Are Taiwanese companies keen to invest here?
Foxconn (electronics manufacturer) has already promised an investment of $20 billion, out of which $5 billion has already been invested in Maharashtra.
Then there is Maxxis Tyres, which has invested about $60 million and has set up a factory in Gujarat. So, we are coming. Food processing is another sector where we want to invest.
We are also planning to focus on North-eastern Indian States, which are still under-developed.