Dr. Dixit, former Indian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, was invited to present a speech on "Indian Foreign Policy and Asia Pacific” by the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies on November 20th. He analyzed the relation between India and Asia-Pacific countries from a historical perspective, offering an Indian viewpoint of Asia to TKU teachers and students.

Dr. Dixit, a distinguished diplomatic policy expert, served as Indian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Cold War period as well as an ambassador to important neighboring countries. He became a columnist in the mainstream media after his retirement. He was accompanied by Mr. Vijay Gokhale, director of the India-Taipei Association, during his visit at TKU.

During the discussion, Prof. Zhang Jing-yu of the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies asked if the development of nuclear weapons in India would damage the original harmony and cause tension between India and Pakistan. Dr. Dixit pointed out that the pact on the ban of nuclear weapons proliferation was signed in 1968, which prohibited the development of nukes in any nation so that continuous research on nuclear weapons in any country is a violation of that pact and should be harshly condemned. As for the conflict between India and Pakistan, Dr. Dixit is optimistic about the future and believes that it might be better if both sides would make more concessions since the two counties have maintained a peaceful relationship for nearly fifty years.

Prof. Gong Yi-jun, director of the Graduate Institute of Southeast Asian Studies said that as regional research on South Asia and India is a weak point of TKU, Dr. Dixit’s speech really helped everyone at the meeting gain a deeper and more comprehensive insight into issues concerned with India.