Tuesday 26 February, 2008

Ma Ying-Jeou Visit to India [22-06-2007]

Taiwanese opposition leader and presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou, whose party enjoys good relations with Beijing, Tuesday called for enhancing trade and investment between India and Taiwan and underlined the need for Taipei to seek permanent peace with Beijing.
“We are here to rediscover India and let India rediscover Taiwan,” said Ma here in the first visit by a leader of Kuomintang (KMT) or Nationalist Party to India in the last 60 years. “I come here to seek a new beginning with an old friend. We could prepare for even closer ties between India and Taiwan,” said Ma, the presidential candidate of his party for the 2008 presidential polls. He spoke in glowing terms about the transformation of India into a new age economy. “There is enough room for India and Taiwan to develop trade and investment between them,” said Ma while alluding to the steadily increasing business ties between India and Taiwan.
Bilateral trade between India and Taiwan, the hub of computer manufacturing and LCD units, is estimated to be around $3 billion. Ma also took positive view of growing economic and strategic relations between India and China and said Taiwan, with its vibrant economy and a healthy appetite for foreign trade, can play a “not so significant role in this process.”