Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Most countries, including the US and India, have not recognized Taiwan as an independent nation.
Until 1971, Taiwan (or the Republic of China, ROC) was the Permanent Member of the UN Security Council. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) replaced it following the passage of a resolution by the UN General Assembly Resolution, kicking Taiwan out of the world body.
This paved the way for PRC to stake its claim as the ‘real China” and dub Taiwan as the part it would someday reannex. Most countries ended their diplomatic relations with Taiwan as Peking (now Beijing) adopted an aggressive “One China” policy.
As of now, only about a dozen member countries of the UN, out of 193, recognize Taiwan. They include the Vatican, although only 4 percent of Taiwan’s 24 million population is Christian.
But this has not prevented many countries from doing business with Taiwan. After all, as the Chinese say, business is business!
India is no exception.
That is why Taiwan’s total investments in India are nearly USD 2 billion, or one percent of Taipei’s total outbound investments. More than 100 Taiwanese companies in India employ over 65,000 Indians, as the two countries upgraded the bilateral investment treaty in 2018 doubling Taiwan’s investment in India.
Now Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer, has entered India in a big way.
On Monday, Foxconn Technology Group, a significant supplier to Apple Inc., said it will invest USD 194 million (Rs. 1,600 crores) in creating an electronics manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu’s Kanchipuram district. The initiative is projected to create employment for 6,000 people.
On Tuesday, again, the Taiwanese major announced to invest a total of USD 600 million in two manufacturing projects in Karnataka, including one for a components and chipmaking facility in partnership with Applied Materials of the USA, the media reported.
Of this, Foxconn will invest USD 350 million to set up a unit to manufacture components for smartphones, including iPhones.
Besides, it will invest USD 250 million in a second plant where it aims to produce chipmaking tools in partnership with Applied Materials, a key player globally in the semiconductor equipment-making industry.
With these fresh investments, Foxconn’s total investments in Karnataka alone will be USD 1.2 billion.
In contrast, China’s total foreign direct investments (FDIs) in various sectors in India are not more than USD 6 billion so far. However, Chinese venture capital, private equity, accelerators, and incubators have invested nearly USD 15 billion across 270 rounds.