I seek your indulgence by beginning on a personal note. I had the pleasure of heading India's non-official representation in Taiwan for three years (2000–03). Amazing as it may seem, I could not find a book on Taiwan in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi or Ministry of External Affairs libraries and except for Ambassador Vinod Khanna, my predecessor in Taiwan, I could not find an individual who was particularly interested in or closely following events in Taiwan. Thus, I left for this new assignment only dimly aware of the fascinating and dangerous complexities of the Taiwan issue. It turned out to be one of the more educative and instructive tenures of my Foreign Service career. In the period since then, from a virtually non-existent base, there has been a very welcome increase in interaction between Taiwanese scholars and strategic experts and India's strategic community. As India's involvement with the Asia-Pacific region deepens and expands, it is important that the Indian academia too takes a proactive interest in expanding consciousness of the enormous significance of the Taiwan issue in the country at large. Therefore, this conference with the theme ‘Taiwan Today’ organized by the Department of East Asian Studies of the University of Delhi is a timely and important initiative to help further enhance interest amongst the Indian student body in the Taiwan issue.