Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu (right) talks virtually with Sidhant Sibal of India’s WION news network April 12 from Taipei City. (MOFA)
 

Taiwan and India are expanding bilateral cooperation in the fields of culture, economy, and labor, Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said April 12.

The remarks came during an interview with Sidhant Sibal for a program aired later the same day on WION’s TV and online channels. Another major media outlet, DNA India, also had full coverage of the dialogue, the MOFA said.

According to Wu, ties between Taiwan and India are growing both broader and deeper, as evidenced by the memorandum of understanding inked Feb. 16 that facilitates the employment of Indian workers in Taiwan, as well as the formal opening of Taiwan’s economic and cultural office in Mumbai scheduled for the second half of this year. Additionally, Indian culture is increasingly accessible to people in Taiwan: celebrations of Diwali and Holi draw crowds, and Indian films can be seen in theaters and on streaming services.

The minister added that mutual trade volume has reached over US$8 billion, while recent months have seen the groundwork laid for a high-tech collaboration between Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation and Tamil Nadu-headquartered Tata Electronics to build India’s first wafer fabrication facility.

Wu said Taiwan’s enhancement of its self-defense capabilities is vital to its role in upholding cross-strait security and Indo-Pacific peace, but also emphasized the importance of cooperation with like-minded democracies as a deterrent to authoritarian aggression.

On the topic of elections, the minister suggested another area in which the two countries could join efforts: anti-disinformation campaigns. Wu expressed Taiwan’s willingness to share best practices won from its wealth of experience countering cognitive warfare as a way to assist India in its upcoming elections. (POC-E)