Taiwan has lost another diplomatic ally to China just days after its presidential election in what Taipei said was both sudden and designed by Beijing to suppress the island\u2019s \u201cdemocratic achievements.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Pacific Island nation of Nauru on Monday announced it had severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan and established ties with China, a decision confirmed by Taiwan\u2019s Foreign Ministry. <\/p>\n
The move is the latest blow to Taiwan\u2019s efforts to retain its dwindling number of diplomatic allies, and comes just two days after Taiwan\u2019s voters defied China\u2019s threats to elect a new president loathed by Beijing. <\/p>\n
Lai Ching-te, the current vice president and a staunch defender of Taiwan\u2019s distinct identity and sovereignty, won the presidential election on Saturday, handing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) a historic third straight term. <\/p>\n
Beijing had repeatedly warned Taiwan\u2019s voters that his election would increase the risk of conflict. <\/p>\n
China\u2019s ruling Communist Party views Taiwan as its own territory, despite having never controlled it, and has ramped up diplomatic pressure on Taipei in recent years, including by poaching its allies. <\/p>\n
During the DPP\u2019s eight years in power, Taiwan has lost 10 diplomatic allies to China. <\/p>\n
On Monday, Taiwan\u2019s Foreign Ministry condemned China in \u201cthe strongest possible terms\u201d for Nauru\u2019s diplomatic switch, which it said came at \u201ca key moment\u201d following the presidential election. <\/p>\n
\u201cChina\u2019s move is to suppress Taiwan\u2019s democratic achievements,\u201d Taiwan\u2019s Deputy Foreign Minister Tien Chung-kwang told reporters. <\/p>\n
Tien added that the severance of ties was a \u201cvery sudden move\u201d by the Nauru government, which had congratulated Lai\u2019s presidential victory over the weekend. <\/p>\n
Tien said Taiwan will immediately suspend all official interactions with Nauru \u201cto defend national dignity,\u201d including closing its embassy and asking the Pacific Island nation to close its embassy in Taiwan. <\/p>\n
Tien also claimed that Taiwan\u2019s Foreign Ministry had received information that Chinese officials had\u00a0courted\u00a0politicians in Nauru with offers of economic assistance. <\/p>\n
He refused to put a figure on the alleged inducement, but said it was \u201cbeyond what we are able to assist our diplomatic allies with.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a regular news briefing Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson did not divulge whether Beijing had pledged financial aid to Nauru, but welcomed its move. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is Nauru\u2019s right decision made on its own volition as an independent sovereign nation to announce its recognition of the one-China principle, its severance of ties with Taiwan and resumption of diplomatic relations with China after Taiwan\u2019s election,\u201d spokesperson Mao Ning said. \u201cThis also shows that the one-China principle is a general trend and the common aspiration of the people.\u201d <\/p>\n
This is the second time Nauru has severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The Pacific Island country first cut ties in 2002, followed by a resumption in 2005. <\/p>\n
The Nauru government said its resumption of diplomatic relations with China was \u201cin the best interests\u201d of the country and its people. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis means that the Republic of Nauru will no longer recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan) as a separate country but rather as an inalienable part of China\u2019s territory, and will sever \u2018diplomatic relations\u2019 with Taiwan as of this day and no longer develop any official relations or official exchanges with Taiwan,\u201d it said in a statement. <\/p>\n
Nauru\u2019s switch of allegiance leaves Taiwan with only 12 diplomatic allies, mostly small nations in the Pacific Ocean and Latin America, and the Vatican. <\/p>\n
Nauru\u2019s announcement came as an unofficial US delegation reaffirmed \u201crock solid\u201d US support for Taiwan during a visit to the island to meet its current and incoming presidents. <\/p>\n
Washington cut formal ties with Taiwan in 1979 after switching diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. <\/p>\n
But since then, the US has maintained close unofficial ties with\u00a0Taiwan and is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself. <\/p>\n
Many other Western nations, including several in Europe, have also retained informal relations with Taipei in the guise of trade offices. <\/p>\n
Analysts say these unofficial relationships with powerful Western nations are in many ways more consequential than the official diplomatic ties it maintains with a handful of smaller countries. <\/p>\n
However, formal diplomatic relations allow those countries to advocate on behalf of Taiwan in international bodies that the island is locked out of, such as the United Nations. <\/p>\n\n
Taiwan has lost another diplomatic ally to China just days after its presidential election in what Taipei said was both sudden and designed by Beijing to suppress the island\u2019s \u201cdemocratic achievements.\u201d The Pacific Island nation of Nauru on Monday announced it had severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan and established ties with China, a decision confirmed <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}