Eurasia Review
Date: August 4, 2018
By: Tai-Wei Chen, IPCS
Taipei, Taiwan. Photo by Chensiyuan, Wikipedia Commons.
Beijing has extended its ‘sharp power’ strategy to the Taiwan-India relationship. It is important to understand how Chinese sharp power is deployed against the Taiwan-India relationship, and for both countries to proactively initiate counter-measures to safeguard this critical bilateral link.
The concept of China’s sharp power was ideated by a report, Sharp Power: Rising Authoritarian Influence, published by the US-based National Endowment for Democracy (NED) in early December 2017. According to it, sharp power involves three core methods: psychological operations, media manipulation, and legal warfare. This strategy is based on the asymmetry between a tightly controlled press and internet in China on the one hand, and an open society in its rivals on the other. Sharp power therefore weaponises the tools of soft power. In the Taiwan-India case, China is using the media to make India comply with a rigid ‘One China’ policy. Though each individual Indian concession is small and seemingly a public relations exercise, they add up to a deliberate Chinese strategy of using ‘One China’ to create a legal trap for India, even while China continues to undermine Indian sovereignty through similar means. Simultaneously this weakens India’s ties with possible economic and security partners like Taiwan.
Although Taiwan has no formal diplomatic relations with India, both countries have great opportunities for synergy. Taiwan’s has a burgeoning hi-tech sector with a ready job market, and the country has a deep understanding of the Chinese military. India’s need for job creation and search for greater knowledge of the Chinese military offer opportunities for a closer working relationship. Then Prime Minister Narasimha Rao initiated informal contact by establishing the India-Taipei Association. Since then, Taiwan and India have been consistently building contact. The two sides have signed many bilateral agreements on trade, investment, technology, education and culture. Current Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also advanced the relationship. The slow consolidation of relations between India and Taiwan can be traced back to 1995. Then BJP official (now prime minister) Modi visited Taiwan in 1999, and as chief minister of Gujarat in 2011 he hosted the largest Taiwanese delegation sent to India. However, while ‘India first’ is the cornerstone of Modi’s foreign policy, it does not seem be the kind of hard-line patriotism that emphasises military hegemony and expansion, and is instead based on the idea of the “world as one family.” [FULL STORY]
