Taiwanese turn away from China

Taiwan is pitching India as a business destination to its tech, automotive, renewable energy and farm sector companies as the US trade war with China has pushed its companies to look for newer markets, two officials said on Friday.

Taiwan is pitching India as a business destination to its tech, automotive, renewable energy and farm sector companies as the US trade war with China has pushed its companies to look for newer markets, two officials said on Friday.

More than 10,000 Taiwanese companies, including Apple suppliers Foxconn and Wistron, have massive operations in China, thanks to its tax incentives, organised supply chain and logistics, efficient business parks and cultural ties to the island.

But the Washington-Beijing trade war has led to higher tariffs on tens of billions of dollars in goods and disrupted global supply chains, prompting companies to look at other countries to escape higher tariffs.

“This trade war has encouraged more Taiwanese companies to figure out other options. So India and other Asean (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) are the alternative markets,” Shih-Chung Liu, vice-chair of Taiwan External Trade Development Council, told reporters.

Asean is a regional block of 10 nations in Southeast Asia that promotes economic, political and military ties between member countries.

Beijing says Taiwan qualifies for formal diplomatic ties with no country. And though India has no formal relation with Taiwan, Taipei runs an economic and cultural centre in New Delhi, operating as a de facto embassy.

Taiwanese firms plan to invest in India’s technology, renewable energy, electric vehicle and farm sectors, Liu said.

Bilateral trade with Asia’s third-biggest economy stood at $7bn in 2018. India-Taiwan trade could touch $10bn in the next few years, said Chung-Kwang Tien of the Taipei economic and cultural centre.