Relevance: GS-2: International Relations, Bilateral Relations.

Key Phrases: Taiwan Crisis, Indo-Pacific, Nancy Pelosi, India-China, China-US, One Country Two Systems, Hinde & Bide, Peaceful Rise, BRI.

Why in News?

• After the Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, the tension between China-Taiwan has escalated to a new level that has far reaching implications in the region and in the Indo-Pacific.

Can International Community pacify China by letting it subdue Taiwan?

• A very good way to get a handle on the geopolitical developments in the Indo Pacific—and the current Taiwan crisis—is to pay attention to what the Communist Party of China’s leaders have been declaring for decades.
• They want to reunify the country both to recover from two centuries of humiliation by Western powers and to finish the civil war that started nearly a hundred years ago.
• China will then retake its rightful place as a global power. Presumably, this will be within an international order.

Historical Perspective

• After the turmoil of the Mao era, the first act of this approach was played out when the West allowed itself to be duped into believing that once China becomes richer, it will be more democratic, and even if it does not, it will cooperate with the West in preserving the liberal international order.
• Deng Xiaoping’s ‘hide and bide’ strategy and Hu Jintao’s ‘peaceful rise’ cleverly played to Western and East Asian fantasies.
• However, by 2010 Beijing assessed that it was powerful enough to move to the next stage.
• The second act involved forcefully taking control of disputed territories, both land and sea, on its own terms.
• Beijing has used coercion and force to change the status quo along the Ryukyus, Spratlys, Paracels, the nine dashed line in the South China Sea and, of course, the Himalayan frontiers with Bhutan, Nepal and India.
• It has been largely successful, and the only forceful resistance it has encountered is from India.
• Xinjiang and Tibet have been ruthlessly subdued.
• By 2020, Beijing launched the third act. Hong Kong was ‘reunited’ by destroying the limited autonomy that it enjoyed and the “one country, two systems” formula was junked.

Why has Taiwan become the centre of Chinese aggression?

• Since Macao had already been taken, the only remaining target is Taiwan.
• Nancy Pelosi’s visit might have triggered events prematurely, but Xi Jinping’s regime has been shouting off the rooftops that it seeks to bring Taiwan back into the embrace of the motherland.
• Even before the current crisis, the People’s Liberation Army’s actions against Taiwan have been increasingly belligerent.

How is the Chinese rise a serious threat to the world?

• It is entirely legitimate for China to seek to be a superpower and shape the world according to its tastes. However, legitimacy is one thing desirability is entirely another.
• Those who believe in individual liberty, fundamental rights, democracy and free markets will be opposed to the rise of an authoritarian power.
• But it’s not values alone. Those of us who have national aspirations of our own will not desire such an outcome. That is why the late K. Subrahmanyam pithily stated that India is better off on the side of the West in its contest with China.

How has external resistance contributed in stopping China?

• India’s resistance has added friction in the case of BRI, if not physically halted it in the Himalayas.
• A countervailing coalition has emerged in the form of the QUAD, with AUKUS being a sharp edge.
• Nancy Pelosi’s visit is a manifestation of a bipartisan consensus in Washington that Beijing must be challenged.

What are the implications of Taiwan Crisis on India and how can it deal with it?

• From a narrow perspective, Taiwan is not a major strategic concern for India.
• However, because it is the single most important factor that can consume Beijing’s energies and delay its play for global power, it is in our interests for Taiwan to keep China occupied.
• To that extent, our interests converge with those of the US, Japan, Australia and the Taiwanese people.
• While our Quad partners can extend material support, India’s moral support for Taiwan can be very important.
• Good diplomacy involves buying time. And good strategy involves using that time to be in the best possible position for when it happens. It is in our interests to endure as long as it can.

Source: Live-Mint

Mains Question:

Q. What are the impacts of Taiwan Crisis for India? Describe the ways that India can use to leverage the crisis in its geostrategic interests.