TAIWAN APPOINTS NEW INDIA ENVOY

NEWDELHI:Taiwan has named senior diplomat Baushuan Ger as its new representative to India while his predecessor Tien Chungkwang has been promoted to the post of deputy foreign minister.

Baushuan’s appointment was part of personnel changes announced by Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Thursday. Tien, who served as Taiwan’s representative to India for more than seven years, is expected to leave for home on Friday.

However, Baushuan is expected to take up his post in India in September, people familiar with developments said. He is currently director general of the department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs in Taiwan’s foreign ministry and has served in the US and the UK.

Tien will replace Hsu Szuchien as deputy foreign minister. Hsu has been appointed as deputy secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council.

“Not only does such an arrangement convey approval for Tien’s performance as Taiwan’s representative to India over the past seven years, but it also suggests that the relationship with India is likely to become one of Taiwan’s most important diplomatic priorities in the future,” Taiwan News portal reported on Thursday.

Under the “One China policy”,

India doesn’t have full and formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Taiwan established the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center (TECC) in New Delhi in 1995 as its government representative office in India.

Besides promoting bilateral relations in economy, trade, investment, media and tourism, TECC has divisions for consular, economic, education science and technology activities that are responsible for advancing mutual interests between Taiwan and India, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. Amid the border standoff between India and China, several experts and commentators have called for New Delhi to upgrade its ties with Taipei. In an article for HT, Sana Hashmi, Taiwan Fellow at the Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University, wrote: “India’s foreign policy priorities, particularly with regard to the Indo-Pacific, should accommodate Taiwan. Along with military preparedness and aligning interests with key countries, Taiwan needs to be included prominently in its long-term strategy towards China.”

In a recent editorial, “Taiwan must stand with India”, leading newspaper Taipei Times said the June 15 clash between Indian and Chinese troops “fits a pattern of Beijing’s increasingly aggressive expansionism in the region – which should also concern policymakers in Taiwan”.