India, April 21 -- Incoming President William Lai is known to be favouring a policy of close engagement between India and Taiwan.

Since the 1990s, India has had an interest in better relations with Taiwan, a tech powerhouse of around 26 million that is situated in the eastern waters of the Indo-Pacific. However, absorbed as the island nation was in next-door China, first Japan and later South Korea moved miles ahead of Taiwan, in particular where the economic relationship was concerned. This was a lost opportunity, for the two economies are complementary in a way that the economies of Japan, the US and South Korea are not. The three are more competitive than complementary where Taiwanese manufacturing is concerned, unlike India. However,...