New Delhi, March 6 (ANI): I-Chung Lai, senior adviser to the Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation, warned at the Raisina Dialogue 2026 that any conflict in the Taiwan Strait would have immediate economic repercussions for India and urged New Delhi to help preserve regional security.
Lai recalled decades of cross-strait tension, saying China has sought to bring Taiwan under its control for nearly 75 years while Taiwan continues to bolster its defence capabilities. He stressed that instability in Taiwan would ripple through the regional economy and argued that maintaining peace, stability and prosperity in the area is in everyone’s interest. Lai said he hopes the Indian government can play a role in ensuring the safety of the waters and wider neighbourhood.
Helena Legarda, head of the foreign relations programme at the Mercator Institute for Chinese Studies (MERICS), told ANI that the war involving Iran has created fresh energy and strategic worries for Beijing. Iran has been an oil supplier to China, she noted, and disruptions to that flow would undermine China’s energy security and could force it to pursue more expensive alternatives. Legarda added that China also risks losing a strategic partner, with attendant geopolitical consequences.
Legarda suggested Beijing may attempt to use the crisis to portray itself as a responsible global actor in contrast to the United States and some Western powers, while promoting its own approach to global governance. On whether recent conflicts are reshaping China’s timeline on Taiwan, she said core objectives have not changed but tactics are being adapted based on lessons from other wars, including the heightened importance of air-defence systems. For now, she observed, China appears inclined to preserve or restore stability in many of its international and bilateral relationships, including with India, as it manages an increasingly complex international environment and its ties with the United States.
This article is based on syndicated reporting and published as received.
