Taiwan’s top security agency yesterday said that China’s move to set up diplomatic ties with one of Taiwan’s former African allies was meant to put pressure on president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to “fall in line” before her inauguration on May 20.
China resumed ties with the small west African state of the Gambia last week, ending an unofficial diplomatic truce between China and Taiwan following landslide wins in presidential and parliamentary elections by Tsai and the Democratic Progressive Party.
China and Taiwan have for years tried to poach each other’s allies, often dangling generous aid packages in front of leaders of developing nations.
The National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report yesterday presented to the legislature that Taiwan’s ties with its few remaining diplomatic allies were at risk of being undermined by financial aid packages from China.
“The warning to our new government was thick with meaning,” the bureau’s report said. “It had the intention of pressuring president-elect Tsai Ing-wen to respond in her May 20 inaugural speech in a way that falls in line with China’s expectations.”
Tsai said in an interview yesterday carried by the Chinese-language China Times that both sides should show good will in the period before she is sworn in.
“Through the expression of goodwill, the hope is to build a foundation of trust,” Tsai said.
She said through a spokesman last week she hoped the forging ties with the Gambia was not a “targeted move” by China.
China has repeatedly warned her against any moves toward independence, while Tsai has stuck to her stance of maintaining the “status quo” without offering a clear policy.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Gambia issued a joint statement on Thursday last week, saying that they had re-established official relations after a 21-year suspension of diplomatic ties.
The Gambia maintained diplomatic ties with Taiwan until 1974, when it severed ties and established diplomatic ties with Beijing. The Gambia then severed diplomatic ties with China in 1995 and resumed official ties with Taiwan that same year.
In November 2013, the Gambia unilaterally decided to break diplomatic relations with Taiwan. It then asked for formal ties with China, but was given a “no” response until recently.
Taiwan has 22 allies, including the Vatican City.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lin (林永樂) yesterday said that leaders of at least six of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have so far confirmed they would attend the May 20 inauguration ceremony for Tsai.
The invitations were extended to the leaders of all 22 of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies through its embassies, Lin told lawmakers during a legislative hearing.
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