India and Taiwan are vibrant democracies navigating an unsettled global order. Although economic and educational ties have deepened steadily, exchanges between elected representatives have fallen silent. This absence is striking—not only because parliamentary diplomacy once flourished, but because such engagement offers a practical way to strengthen cooperation while preserving India’s strategic autonomy.
It has been over 30 years since Taiwan and India set up representative offices in their capital cities to promote bilateral cooperation and exchanges. Trade between Taiwan and India reached a record of $12.5 billion in 2025, an increase of 17.9% from the previous year. Taiwan’s cumulative investment in India is worth $6 billion, which covers sectors such as textiles, footwear, machinery, petrochemicals, ICT, electronics, automobile components and banking, and creates over 2 lakh job opportunities. In the education sector, Indian students’ enrollment in Taiwan saw a significant rise in recent years, with over 3,000 students currently enrolled in higher education institutions. Each year, the Ministry of Education in Taiwan grants more than 150 scholarships to Indian students for undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programmes. Scholars and scientists from both Taiwan and India have jointly implemented about 200 research projects since 2008. The policy elites of both countries engage through jointly organised vice-ministerial-level dialogues and business leaders’ summits in Taipei and Delhi.