By Venus Upadhayaya

After India’s punitive and precision strikes against, what New Delhi serialized as nine terrorist sites inside Pakistan on May 7, a plethora of reactions poured in from governments around the world. These statements denoted their respective foreign policy in South Asia vis-a-vis India and Pakistan.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) also issued a statement on May 10, opposing terrorism and expressing concern about the growing tensions between India and Pakistan. The statement noticeably expressed support for the Indian government’s right to maintain its national security and take action against terrorists.

 “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) works closely with democratic partners worldwide in staunch opposition to international terrorism, ” said MOFA Taiwan.

 “It expresses firm support for all legitimate and necessary actions taken by the government of India to safeguard national security and fight terrorist forces that cross borders to attack innocent civilians. “

Taiwan’s statement brought cheer to the Indian social media. People expressed appreciation for Taiwan calling for further deepening and strengthening of the relationship between New Delhi and Taipei.

Noted TV panelist, author and scientist, Anand Ranganathan took to X to express his thoughts on Taiwan’s statement after India’s punitive strikes. Ranganathan wrote:  “China does not recognise Kashmir as part of India. China has usurped 38000 sqkm of Kashmir. China supports Pakistan on Kashmir.

 “Despite this, India does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. India does not even recognise Taiwan as a country.Time has come to correct this. “

Ranganathan’s statement had over 530,000 views. 40,000 likes and over 9,700 reposts indicating an engaging discussion on the topic on Indian X space. Social media users urged the Indian government to recognize Taiwan in response to that tweet.

China does not recognise Kashmir as part of India. China has usurped 38000 sqkm of Kashmir. China supports Pakistan on Kashmir.

Despite this, India does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. India does not even recognise Taiwan as a country. Time has come to correct this. pic.twitter.com/1GAUmWBXhg

— Anand Ranganathan (@ARanganathan72) May 14, 2025

Since MOFA’s statement triggered an important disscussion of the Indian social media, it becomes important to analyse why Taiwan made that specific statement and what it implies for India-Taiwan relations going forward.

1: Taiwan communicated to India that it’s sensitive to India’s national security concerns. By doing so Taiwan set a stage for reciprocation. In case of any such future event in Taiwan that concerns Taiwan’s national security, it would want India to be sensitive to its concerns too.

2: Taiwan accepted that terrorism is a national security risk and it’s a country’s “legitimate” right to take “necessary actions” to “fight terrorist forces that cross borders to attack innocent civilians.”

The latter statement is particularly important because Taiwan clearly stated that terrorist forces came from across the border which is what India has constantly reiterated. By saying so Taiwan stood valiantly against Pakistan and China claimed-narrative of in-grown terrorist forces in Kashmir–Taiwan acknowleged that terrorism is backed from across the border. By saying so Taiwan also maintained the US perspective since many of the terrorist organizations operating from inside Pakistan are designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs) by the US.

3: The persistent threat to Taiwan’s national security comes from across the strait from the CCP regime–Taiwan and India share the CCP threat–since India too faces that from across its disputed borders with China. By saying, “MOFA will continue to pay close attention to developments between India and Pakistan and engage in joint efforts to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific,”Taiwan stated that India-Pakistan tensions is a problem of the Indo-Pacific region. By saying so Taiwan sought reciproaction on the issue of threat to its national security as an Indo-pacific paradigm. In a way Taiwan sought QUAD to consider that perspective since India is an intergal part of the QUAD alliance between US, Japan, Australia and New Delhi.

4: By highlighting India as a “democratic partner” Taiwan communicated that its association with India is long term and is based on shared commitment to democracy which ideologically is opposed to Chinese communism. In a way through the statement Taiwan asserted its political identity and sought sensitivity to its geopolitical concerns.

* Venus Upadhayaya is a MOFA Taiwan 2025 Fellow from India. Media and Journalism, Global South Geopolitics, Sustainability and Leadership are her areas of interest.