Taiwanese investment in India generated employment for 65,000 people, says Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu

Days after Taiwan's National Day, country’s Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of China (Taiwan) Joseph Wu said that it has invested around $2.3 billion in India which has generated employment for 65,000 people. Speaking to WION's Palki Sharma, Wu said that the Taiwan government, since 2016, is looking forward to improving the friendship between the two countries — be it people-to-people relations or trade policies. In the area of healthcare, agriculture, technical and education exchanges with each other, he has seen "tremendous progress". 

"In 2018, we sealed an agreement with India — a bilateral investment — and that is very important for the bilateral economic relations. And we have seen, Taiwan's investment in India has been increasing,” Wu said. 

"The total amount of Taiwanese investment in India now stands around USD2.3 billion and our investment in India has employed roughly 65,000 Indian people; these are good quality jobs and we will continue to do that," he continued. 

Talking about how the relationship between the two countries can be further improved, he said, "If the Indian government is interested in improving the economic and trade relations with Taiwan even further, an FTA or similar to FTA type of arrangement between Taiwan and India will certainly improve our economic relations", hinting towards the world's economic distancing from China. 

He also added that many of the Taiwanese investors are now shifting from China to India. 

Specifically talking about the increasing semi-conductors industry in Taiwan, he said India is one of the most preferred locations for Taiwan's manufacturers of semi-conductors. 

"I think there is a natural philosophy that they will go to the places which are the most friendly to them. So, for Taiwan's high-tech industries, to make an investment in the United States or South East Asia or in India as long as they feel that these (countries) are friends and that they can make their investment in a friendly environment, they will go to (those countries). And to me, India is a very friendly place where we have the same philosophy and we have the same values,” he said.