TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — As China has pushed India and Taiwan closer together, building closer ties to Taiwan is not a choice for India, but a necessity, according to Indian academic and foreign policy expert Sana Hashmi.

Taiwan’s successful response to the coronavirus pandemic has increased its international space and attracted a rising level of attention from India, which is also facing an aggressive Chinese posture, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) reported Wednesday (March 10).

Hashmi, who serves as a visiting scholar at Taipei’s National Chengchi University, has called on New Delhi to strengthen its links with Taiwan in statements in The Sunday Guardian and at international seminars.

While India has taken note that some of its interests coincide with Taiwan’s, there is still a need for the administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to apply a long-term, consistent and active policy, said Hashmi, a former consultant with the country’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Taiwanese academics, however, pointed out that unlike the United States and Japan, India did not speak out in Taiwan’s favor during the 2020 World Health Assembly, showing the possibility that the South Asian country might improve its relations with Beijing and throw Taipei by the wayside, RTI reported.