Taiwan Strait and Dispute
Source : The Hindu
GS II : International Relation
What is discussed under Taiwan Strait and Dispute?
- Taiwan Strait
- About Taiwan
Why in News ?
U.S. Navy is sailing two warships through the Taiwan Strait recently in the first such transit publicised since U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan earlier in August, at a time when tensions have kept the waterway particularly busy.
Key Facts
- China conducted many military exercises in the strait as it sought to punish Taiwan after Pelosi visited the self-ruled island against Beijing’s threats.
- China views the island as part of its national territory and opposes any visits by foreign governments as recognising Taiwan as its own state.
- The U.S. regularly sends its ships through the Taiwan Strait as part of what it calls freedom of navigation maneuvers.
Taiwan Strait
- The Taiwan Strait, also known as the Formosa Strait, is a 180 km wide strait separating Taiwan and mainland China.
- The strait is currently part of the South China Sea and connects to the East China Sea to the north.
- The narrowest part is 130 km wide.
- The entire strait is on Asia’s continental shelf.
- Historically both the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan considered the strait part of the exclusive economic zone of a single China.
- This position has drawn strong objections from the United States, Australia, France and Taiwan.
About Taiwan
- Taiwan is an island territory across the Taiwan Strait, located off the coast of mainland China.
- The ruling Kuomintang government of China fled to Taiwan after defeated by the communist forces in the Chinese civil war of 1945-1949.
- World’s global supply chain of semiconductors is mostly in Taiwan.
- Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company or TSMC – has over half of the world’s market.
- China is Taiwan’s biggest export partner followed by US.
China And Taiwan
- Taiwan was under the control of China during the rule of Qing Dynasty, they lost Taiwan to Japan during Sino-Japanese War 1895.
- After the World War II the region again fell into the hands of China.
- During the civil war Mao lead Communist party came in power and the nationalist government forces Kuomintang, led by Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan.
- Chiang Kai-shek ruled Taiwan for several decades and Kuomintang was the most powerful parties ruled Taiwan.
- Later China claims region and Taiwan points the history that they were not the part of Modern Communist China.
- China now wants to reunification of the region and pressurising other countries not to recognise Taiwan as an independent nation.
India and Taiwan
- India and Taiwan have bilateral agreements on agriculture, investment, customs cooperation, civil aviation, industrial cooperation and other areas, the time has come to recalibrate India-Taiwan relations.
- Taiwan’s standing as the top semiconductor and electronics producer in the world helps India’s dominance in the ITES sector (Information Technology-Enabled Services).
- Taiwanese businesses are increasingly interested in shifting business ties from China to India.
- Bilateral trade has experienced significant growth in recent years.
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