While Taipei has maintained formal diplomatic ties with 23 allies following President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) declaration of a “diplomatic truce” with China, academics and officials say that relations with Nicaragua, Paraguay, Dominica, Panama, Haiti and Honduras have been on shaky ground, cables released by WikiLeaks on Aug. 30 showed.
A cable dated June 2, 2008, issued by the US consulate in Shanghai, quoted Yang Jiemian (楊潔勉), then-president of the Shanghai Institute for International Studies, and its vice president Chen -Dongxiao (陳東曉) as saying that Nicaragua intended to recognize China, but Beijing decided not act on the requests.
The cable said the Chinese academics viewed Beijing’s refusal to accept Nicaragua as an act of “good will” toward Taiwan and that China was awaiting “gestures from Taiwan in the next two months or so.”
“China decided not to implement that offered change, at least for now, to see whether an understanding can be reached that would allow a cessation to the war between Taipei and Beijing for diplomatic recognition,” the cable reads.
Another cable dated March 20, 2009, quoted then-foreign minister Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) as telling American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman Raymond Bughardt that China has refused to accept requests from Paraguay, the Dominican Republic and Panama to switch diplomatic ties.
“Beijing had tacitly accepted Taiwan’s diplomatic truce,” Ou was quoted as saying in the cable.
Ou said he had issued no instructions on the subject as Taipei was still “observing … [but] personally, I hope our diplomats would interpret the ceasefire in a broader way,” the cable said.
Kung Kuo-wei (宮國威), an associate professor at Tamkang University, told the AIT that Paraguay, Panama, Haiti and Honduras had a strong interest in strengthening ties with China and were keen on switching their diplomatic recognition, according to a cable originating from the AIT on Oct. 3, 2008.
Separately, a cable from the US embassy in Beijing on Jan. 16, 2009, quoted Renmin University professor Jin Canrong (金燦榮) as saying that five unnamed countries with diplomatic relations with Taiwan were willing to switch their recognition to China
As for the South Pacific region, a cable dated Sept. 25, 2008, from the AIT showed that six of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies — Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, the Solomon Islands and Tuvalu — were uneasy about their ties with Taiwan following the “diplomatic truce” policy.
The cable quoted Victor Yu (于德勝), then-director general for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department of East Asian Affairs, as saying that this unease had prompted Taiwan to reassure its Pacific island diplomatic partners that its engagement with China would not change its policy in the region and that it would continue, and probably even increase, development cooperation.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to