The small island country- Taiwan has outpaced its neighbouring country China in terms of economic growth. According to data released by Taiwan’s statistics agency on Friday, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased by 4.94 per cent in the final three months of 2020 compared with the same period a year earlier, taking Taiwan’s expansion throughout 2020 to 3 per cent. Meanwhile, China, which continues to claim authority over Taiwan and its sovereignty only registered a 2.3 per cent rise.
“The economic growth stemmed from the continued domestic investments from manufacturers. The production capacity continued to expand and the supply chain localization also helped. The export performance was better than expected. The decline of domestic spending is not as serious as we thought last quarter,” the Taiwanese bureau said in a statement.
The major fillip to Taiwan’s economic growth success story came from electronic component exports which registered a whopping 21.2 per cent growth in the last quarter of 2020.
In 1990, Taiwan was a $166 billion economy dominated by exports of consumer electronics and plastic goods. However, after China liberalized and reformed its economy in the early 90s, Taiwan suffered anemic growth due to its manufacturing industries’ mass exodus to China.
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Taiwan has long been battling Chinese excursions in its territory and has been looking to gain diplomatic recognition from countries around the globe. Since the beginning of 2020, Taiwan is winning global recognition thanks to its superb handling of the Wuhan coronavirus and undertaking the laborious mask diplomacy campaign, and helping countries across the world battle the deadly virus.
Despite its small size, the island country has stood up to China and its nefarious leader. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has been the cornerstone in the turnaround of fortunes for the island nation. Tsai has not bogged down in the face of adversity and has talked tough and walked even tougher when it has come to dealing with China.
In the past one year, Beijing has repeatedly threatened to invade Taiwan, and on multiple occasions has sent fighter jets in the Taiwanese airspace,
Reported and argued previously by TFI, the time is ripe for India to give Taiwan the diplomatic recognition it deserves. With Donald Trump out of the equation, it appears difficult that the island country would get the same support from the Democrats but the Indian Prime Minister can rise to the occasion and bring Taiwan into the mainstream.
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The rising economy of Taiwan is a testament to the fact that the country can do more than ‘just good’ on its own. China was only hampering the growth story of it but COVID-19 came as a blessing in disguise for the island nation and now it has outpaced Beijing, rather handsomely.