Beijing is stepping up efforts to convince countries to adopt its view that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China, which might provide a legal basis for it to invade the island, the London-based magazine The Economist said on Thursday.
Nearly a month into the new year, “a new diplomatic battle is intensifying that risks setting the stage for war,” the magazine said, citing incidents of Nauru switching diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing on Monday last week and the US Navy sending a warship through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday.
Beijing has “opened up a novel front” in its diplomatic campaign — the Chinese Communist Party “wants not only to be the sole representative of China, it also wants countries to adopt its view that Taiwan is an alienable part of it,” it said.
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If the campaign is successful, Chinese leaders would gain considerable diplomatic clout and “a legal basis for invading the island,” it said, warning that the risk for Taiwan is beyond the languages taken by foreign countries, but military actions.
Among the 183 countries, including Nauru, that now formally recognize China, huge differences exist in their attitudes toward Taiwan, it said.
At opposite ends of the spectrum are countries that treat Taiwan as a de facto independent country without formally recognizing it and those that endorse China’s claim, it said.
Statements made by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs last year said that at least 28 countries have supported China’s ambition to “unify” with Taiwan, it said.
Chinese officials are striving to enlist such support from more countries as they believe that it “helps China make the case that unification is justified, by force if necessary,” it said.
Most Western countries take a pro-Taiwan stance and “are moving further in that direction” while maintaining their own versions of the “one China” policy, it said.
The US is showing signs of making less ambiguous statements about its support for Taiwan and engaging in higher-level interactions with Taiwanese counterparts while encouraging its allies to do the same, it said.
“China has therefore focused its efforts [and economic pressure] on the developing world,” promoting its views in multilateral organizations, it said.
Beijing misinterprets the UN Resolution 2758 by claiming that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China’s territory, and with some success, as Nauru cited the misinterpretation as the reason it severed ties with Taiwan, it said.
The resolution, which was adopted by the UN 26th General Assembly in 1971 to resolve the issue of China’s representation at the UN, recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the “only lawful representative of China,” but does not mention Taiwan or state that “Taiwan is part of the PRC,” as China claims.
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