The Visit of Republic of China (Taipei) Delegation To USI of India on 02 May 2013

Report on the Visit of Republic of China (Taipei) Delegation
to USI of India on 02 May 2013

 Introduction 

An eight member delegation from the ROC led by Dr Fu-Kuo Liu, Executive Director,  Centre for Security Studies, National Chengchi University (Taiwan) visited USI on 02 May 2013.

 Initial Remarks

Lt Gen PK Singh, PVSM,AVSM (Retd), Director, USI, welcomed the delegation and said that we have been having a robust interaction with our friends from Taiwan since 1990s to understand each other’s view points on issues of mutual interest.   He flagged off three issues for discussion :  China’s assertive / aggressive posturing in East / South China Sea and Ladakh; rebalancing of the US forces in Asia-Pacific and possibility of a joint response to Chinese aggressive intent and posturing in the Asia-Pacific region.

Dr Fu-Kuo Liu acknowledged that having been Incharge of Strategic Studies in Taiwan for last 10 years he was very familiar with USI.  Firstly, he highlighted that the delegation comprised eight different Institutions which look at Taiwan’s Security comprehensively. Thereafter he identified three core issues for discussion:-

(a) Importance of China for its neighbours on becoming second largest economy in the world;

(b) How would the new Chinese leadership deal with current trends in cross-strait and Asia-Pacific Security ?

(c) How can we facilitate each other’s mutual security interests ?

Each member of the delegation also shared his perception about Chinese aggressive intent and Taiwan’s determination to stand-up to safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and security with following observations :

(a) China will play a more important role in its region.

(b) The new Chinese leaders want to project themselves as strong leaders.

(c)  We need to analyse China’s behaviour in dealing with current issues.

 Interactive Session

 Initiating the session, Ambassador SK Bhutani, IFS (Retd) highlighted the commonality of challenges faced by India and Taiwan, as also the likely economic scenario that may prevail in the coming years.

During the interactive session, views on following issues were briefly touched upon:-

(a) Chinese assertive behaviour in resolving territorial and border disputes with neighbouring countries in the Asia-Pacific Region – specially Diaoyu / Senkaku Islands, South China Sea and Ladakh.

(b) White Paper on China’s Armed Forces – contents and omissions; particularly, NFU and Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

(c)  Engagement with new leadership in place in China.

(d)  Prospects of Chinese economy sustaining its growth and its implications for neighbouring countries.

(e)  The US Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region and South East Asia in Obama’s Second term.

(f)   Internal dynamics in China including the role of social media and religion.

Conclusion

 The Director USI highlighted the importance of looking at different scenarios through joint ‘Net Assessment’ exercises for sharing differing “perceptions and analyses” on a continuing basis. He invited the visiting delegation to participate in the USI National Security Seminar 2013 on “Perspective of the Indo-Pacific Region – Aspirations, Challenges and Strategy” scheduled on 7-8 November 2013.

The Head of the Taiwan delegation thanked the Director USI, and  said that he looked forward to having more in-depth interaction with experts from both sides in the future.

The meeting ended with presentation of USI Journal by the Director USI followed by presentation of ‘Strategic Vision for Taiwan Security’ Journal by Dr Fu Kuo-Liu and both sides agreeing to follow-up on their exchange on a regular basis.

Compiled By: Lieutenant Colonel BS Varma (Retd), Assistant Director at USI.