Taiwan’s de facto operational role in India’s Act East Policy

Abstract

Although Taiwan remains formally absent from India’s Act East Policy (AEP) due to diplomatic constraints, its expanding economic, technological, and strategic engagement warrants a reassessment of how the policy operates in practice. This article bridges the gap between the AEP’s declaratory framework and its operational implementation, arguing that Taiwan has emerged as a de facto and functionally embedded participant in India’s eastward strategy. Since the 1990s, and more markedly under the Narendra Modi government, India–Taiwan cooperation has expanded across trade, investment, science and technology, education, and semiconductor collaboration in ways that closely align with core Act East objectives, including economic connectivity, technological upgrading, and supply chain diversification. Through informal, sector-specific, and non-diplomatic mechanisms, India has accommodated Taiwan within the implementation of the AEP despite the absence of formal diplomatic recognition. In this context, the article adopts a functional and analytical lens to establish that the policy outcomes, rather than formal policy texts, help understand Taiwan’s role within the AEP. It contends that Taiwan occupies a consequential yet an analytically underexamined position within the AEP when assessed through operational alignment, policy instruments, and strategic practice rather than declaratory inclusion alone.