‘Taiwan Can Help India’s Manufacturing, But India Must Resolve Bureaucracy, Red Tape’

Taiwanese businessmen, scholars and visitors don’t know enough about India, largely because there are no Chinese language publications providing information about various aspects of India, says Mumin Chen, Minister in the Taiwan Representative Office in Delhi. Add to that India’s size and diversity, autonomous state governments, bureaucracy and red tape: result Taiwan’s investment in India is low.

But in the wake of the pandemic and China’s aggression in the South China Sea and elsewhere, there is a scramble to diversify supply chains away from that country, and India is hopeful of emerging as an alternative investment destination. At this point, it’s too early to tell how successful India will be, but there is a need for Delhi to reach out to Taiwanese business and industry, offer incentives and a stable and efficient rules bound environment. That is probably where the challenge lies.

In this exclusive chat with Stratnews Global’s Surya Gangadharan, Mumin Chen believes India must cast aside whatever reservations it may have about Taiwan. Indirectly, he appeared to be hinting that India needs to be less concerned about China’s sentiments on that score. Clearly, India needs to be proactive about where its interests lie. More in this conversation about India and Taiwan.