An IDC Analysis

Indian diaspora abroad are quite a force to reckon with as they are properous and have plenty of intiative. In the aritcle posted below the growing links between Indian and Taiwanese diaspora are highlighted. Perhaps now is the time for the Indian diaspora in UK and USA to forge similar links with Pakistanis, to see if they can contribute to the peace process. At present they seem to be more involved in activities with little cooperation between the two communities. There is need for them to make common cause.

Indian, Taiwanese Diaspora To Make Common Cause

By P. Jayaram

(Courtesy: Yahoo India News)

New Delhi, Oct 24 (IANS) Two leaders of the Indian American community are visiting Taiwan next week in a bid to give shape to a nascent move to form an alliance with Taiwanese Americans.

Armeane Choksy, president of the Washington-based US-India Institute, and its executive director Manish Thakur are visiting Taiwan for five days from Monday, during which they will interact with Taiwanese intellectuals and high dignitaries.

The visit is at the invitation of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, whose president is Vice Foreign Minister Michael Kau. Choksy and Thakur will also call on Taiwan Vice President Annet Lu, sources here said.

The visit of the Indian American leaders is the culmination of a move launched by the Indian American and Taiwanese American communities to come together to protect and promote the interests of their respective countries of origin.

The sources said leaders of the Jewish American community, which has close links with the Indian American community, had played a significant role in bringing the Indians and Taiwanese together.

From 1997-98 onwards, the Indian American community and the influential Jewish American community have been coming together and some even credit this development for the dramatic growth that India-Israel and India-US relations have witnessed in recent years.

"This has proved to be an alliance that is of great benefit to India, the US and Israel," a source familiar with leaders of the two communities told IANS.

The Indian American community and the Taiwanese American community in the US plan to make a common cause of defence of security (of Taiwan) and economic development (of India).

The Indian American community, according to sources, is not bothered by the fact that the government of India does not consider Taiwan as an independent entity but a part of China.

They see the 2.5 million Taiwanese Americans, one of the richest in the US, as an answer to India's search for foreign direct investment and notes that they had made over $43 billion worth of investments in China during the last 20 years.

The Taiwanese Americans, on the other hand, are worried about the fate of their investments in China, particularly if there is a conflict between Taiwan and mainland China, with possible involvement of the US.

The suggestions that the Taiwanese Americans and the Indian Americans should work together on the model of the Indian American and Jewish American communities had come in this context.

With Taiwanese Americans increasingly looking for alternative investment destinations to China and seeing India as one, the Indian Americans have agreed to be the bridge to connect them, the sources said.

Not only are Taiwanese Americans impressed by India's reputation as a leader in the knowledge industry, they are also taking to yoga, spiritualism and Buddhism, they said.