China persuades Panama to break diplomatic ties with Taiwan
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Jun 15th 2017 | Taipei
THAT there is only one China, and that Taiwan is merely a renegade province of it, has long been the official doctrine of China’s Communist Party. It follows that no country can have diplomatic ties with both China and Taiwan, and that those which recognise Taiwan must be made to switch allegiances. This diplomatic warfare was suspended from 2008 to 2016, when Ma Ying-jeou was president of Taiwan, since he vaguely affirmed the idea that the two sides might eventually become one. But Tsai Ing-wen, his successor, has refused to do so. As a result China has ended the truce. This week saw the biggest skirmish yet, as Panama broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
In December the tiny African state of São Tomé & Príncipe defected to the Chinese camp. Last month rowdy Chinese delegates forced Taiwan’s representatives out of a meeting about conflict diamonds in Australia. Earlier this year Taiwan failed to secure an invitation to the World Health Assembly, a big UN powwow, for the first time in eight years.
Only 19 countries, plus the Vatican, now officially recognise Taiwan, the majority of them in Latin America and the Caribbean. The concern among Taiwanese is that Panama’s change of heart will spur further defections in the region. The Chinese authorities pointed out that there was a global consensus around the “one-China principle”, and that Ms Tsai should take note.
But China’s campaign may not have the desired effect in Taiwan. Mr Ma’s party, the Kuomintang, is in a weakened state. Many in Ms Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party, meanwhile, think that she has been too emollient with China and should take steps to assert Taiwan’s independence. They point to the breaking of the truce as proof of China’s malign intentions. Ms Tsai has complained that China is disrupting the status quo and said that Taiwan will not bow to threats: “Our sovereignty cannot be challenged, and cannot be traded away.”
Still, Ms Tsai is not one for confrontations. Instead of flinging Taiwan into a losing battle with China, her government says it is looking for ways to build stronger, albeit unofficial, ties with friendly countries such as Japan and America.
