Taiwan’s loss of another diplomatic ally to China is the latest strike in a multi-pronged effort to isolate the nation, undermine its claims to sovereignty and render it invisible on the global stage.
As President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) refuses to bend to Beijing’s demand that she recognize its “one China” principle, the Chinese government has stepped up its campaign to shrink the nation’s status.
Major international businesses, including airlines and hotels, have caved to pressure to list Taiwan as part of China on their Web sites. Taiwan has also been shut out of numerous high-profile global forums at Beijing’s request, and China has stepped up military drills around the nation.
Salvadoran President Sanchez Ceren on Tuesday said its decision to switch ties from Taipei to Beijing was part of the “inevitable trends of our day,” while Taiwan accused China of using “yuan diplomacy” to lure away its supporters.
Taiwan now has only 17 diplomatic allies, the vast majority of them small economies in the Pacific, Caribbean and Central America.
Five have jumped ship since Tsai took power in 2016, with three this year alone.
The allies might not punch much weight internationally, but chipping away at them has deep significance for Taiwan as it strives to hold on to any formal recognition of its legitimacy.
“If the ROC [Republic of China] is completely unrecognized, I believe Beijing’s calculation is that it will be easier to delegitimize the government in Taipei and prime demoralized Taiwanese and international society for unification,” said Jonathan Sullivan, director of China programs at the University of Nottingham in England.
Wooing El Salvador was also a warning shot to the US, said Fan Shih-ping (范世平), a political analyst at National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei.
The US is Taiwan’s most important informal ally and major arms supplier, despite having switched official diplomatic ties to Beijing in 1979.
Beijing last week protested when Tsai spoke publicly in Los Angeles — the first Taiwanese president to do so for 15 years — and has also complained about friendly overtures from the administration of US President Donald Trump, including a fresh commitment to support Taiwan militarily.
“It’s an indirect slap in Trump’s face as El Salvador is in the US’ backyard,” Fan said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is confident he can use both hard and soft power to pave the way for unification, National Chengchi University College of International Affairs vice dean Huang Kwei-bo (黃奎博) said.
“They now ignore stakeholders in Taiwan and unilaterally decide to do whatever they want,” Huang said. “This is quite worrying, as it means Beijing doesn’t have any willingness to communicate anymore.”
However, Sullivan said that if Taiwan loses all recognition from its allies, Beijing might unwittingly fuel calls from independence supporters to push for the nation to redefine itself as the Republic of Taiwan.
He also believes Taiwan’s unofficial ties ultimately outweigh its official ones.
“Taiwan’s informal relationships as a major trading economy with the US, Japan, the EU and pretty much every other country in the world are much more important to Taiwan’s vitality,” Sullivan said.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
GIVE AND TAKE: Blood demand continues to rise each year, while fewer young donors are available due to the nation’s falling birthrate, a doctor said Blood donors can redeem points earned from donations to obtain limited edition Formosan black bear travel mugs, the Kaohsiung Blood Center said yesterday, as it announced a goal of stocking 20,000 units of blood prior to the Lunar New Year. The last month of the lunar year is National Blood Donation Month, when local centers seek to stockpile blood for use during the Lunar New Year holiday. The blood demand in southern Taiwan — including Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Chiayi, Pingtung, Penghu and Taitung counties — is about 2,000 units per day, the center said. The donation campaign aims to boost
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
American climber Alex Honnold is to attempt a free climb of Taipei 101 today at 9am, with traffic closures around the skyscraper. To accommodate the climb attempt and filming, the Taipei Department of Transportation said traffic controls would be enforced around the Taipei 101 area. If weather conditions delay the climb, the restrictions would be pushed back to tomorrow. Traffic controls would be in place today from 7am to 11am around the Taipei 101 area, the department said. Songzhi Road would be fully closed in both directions between Songlian Road and Xinyi Road Sec 5, it said, adding that bidirectional traffic controls would
RSS