Taiwan seeks deeper India ties as direct flights restart soon, and chip projects advance

Taiwan’s representative in India has said direct air links with New Delhi will resume on 1 December and that two semiconductor projects involving Taiwanese firms should begin operating within one to two years, as Taipei looks to expand trade and people-to-people contact.

Dr Mumin Chen, who heads the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center, said the Delhi–Taipei route would be operated by EVA Air five times a week. “The first priority is that we’ve resumed the direct flight and encourage more Indian friends to visit Taiwan,” he said, adding that Taiwan would “certainly consider” new procedures to make visa applications easier for Indian travellers.

Bilateral trade reached a record $12.5bn in 2025. Chen said it was expected to rise further this year, “probably $16 billion”. Taiwan’s exports, he noted, were concentrated in machinery and computer components, reflecting India’s push to expand manufacturing in information and communications technology and industrial goods.

“Taiwan could play a more important role in contributing to India’s economic development and also industrialisation,” he said.

On semiconductors, Chen pointed to two projects, one in Gujarat and one in Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, that he said were “going very well”. “I believe that in the next one or two years we will see both projects complete and start operating.”

About 40 Mandarin teachers from Taiwan already work in Indian universities. Chen said numbers would rise only gradually. India was “a very huge country”, he said, so Taipei would first identify strong universities and colleges, sign memorandums of understanding, and then recruit teachers.

Labour mobility has moved more slowly. Taiwan faces shortages and India has surplus workers, but Chen acknowledged there had not been “much progress”. With flights restarting and exchanges increasing, he said, “I believe that the labour mobility issue will be solved very soon.”

Chen also restated Taipei’s political position after Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met. “China in recent years has tried hard to pressure Taiwan and also to pressure other countries to assert the so-called One China principle, which we strongly object…”.

China’s official account of the PM Modi-President Xi meeting in Delhi said India had restated its position on Taiwan. New Delhi readout did not repeat that language, saying both sides need to show sensitivity to each other's own "core concerns".

With the UN General Assembly approaching, a Taiwanese representative repeated Taiwan’s long-standing demand for a voice at the United Nations. Taiwan has had no representation since 1971. “When we talk about the world community, you cannot exclude Taiwan,” he said. “Taiwan deserves representation in the United Nations.”