Written by Kirsty Needham and Yimou Lee
SYDNEY/TAIPEI (Reuters) – Days after electing a new president, Taiwan lost Nauru, one of its few diplomatic allies, to China on Monday, even as China affirmed Taiwan’s desire for foreign cooperation. He accused China of trying to put pressure on China. world.
China insists that Taiwan is its territory and has no right to state-to-state relations, a position strongly disputed by Taiwan, and the two countries have long been in competition over diplomatic recognition. They have accused each other of using “dollar diplomacy.”
Taiwanese security officials told Reuters ahead of Saturday’s general election that China continues to whittle away at the small number of countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taipei, now down to more than a dozen. He said it was highly likely.
Lai Qingtoku was repeatedly criticized by China as a dangerous separatist before the vote, but he won the election for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DP) and will take office on May 20.
The government of Nauru, a small Pacific island nation, said it was cutting ties with Taiwan, calling for the resumption of full diplomatic relations with China “in the best interests” of the country and its people.
Nauru previously recognized China between 2002 and 2005.
China and the United States have intensified competition for influence in the Pacific in recent years. In 2019, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands both abandoned Taiwan for China within a week of each other.
The United States remains “solid” in its commitment to Taiwan after Saturday’s election, former U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, who is visiting Taiwan, confirmed in comments released on Monday.
Taiwan’s Vice Foreign Minister Tien Chung-guan said at a hastily arranged press conference after Nauru’s announcement that the news came out of the blue.
Tien said that just as many countries had congratulated Taiwan on its smooth voting process, the Chinese government had chosen a particularly sensitive time after the election to target Nauru. He said the move was “like an ambush” and amounted to “a blatant attack on democracy”. .
“Taiwan did not bow to pressure. We elected what we wanted to elect. That is intolerable for Taiwan,” he added.
Tian said China has provided Nauru, with a population of 12,500 people, with far more funding than Taiwan provides to its allies.
“Once again, China has proven that it is trying every means possible to suppress us, including financial diplomacy,” he said.
A senior Taiwanese official briefed on the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the Chinese government provides Nauru with $100 million a year.
A Nauru government spokesperson declined to comment.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it appreciated and welcomed Nauru’s decision. He did not directly answer questions about the amount offered.
“Nauru, as a sovereign nation, has made the right choice to resume diplomatic relations with China on its own,” ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said in Beijing.
The Taiwan President’s Office said that although the Chinese government’s measures amount to suppression of Taiwan’s diplomatic space, they cannot undermine the will of the Taiwanese people to go out into the world, and the fact that Taiwan and China are not mutually dependent. He said he could not change it.
Taiwan’s remaining 12 diplomatic allies include the Vatican, Guatemala and Paraguay, as well as Palau, Tuvalu and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu is in Guatemala to attend the inauguration of the new president.
Nauru is a small, remote Pacific island nation that uses Australian currency and derives its income from fishing licenses and hosting the Australian government’s regional processing center for refugees.
In December, the Australian bank, the country’s only provider of banking services, announced plans to close its operations in Nauru.
Australia supports police operations and is a major donor, contributing AU$46 million (US$31 million) in development assistance in 2023. Refugee processing centers are projected to generate A$160 million in 2024, but Australia plans to reduce their size over time.
(1 Australian dollar = 0.6671 USD)
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham and Yimou Lee; Additional reporting by Liz Lee in Beijing; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Tom Hogue, Michael Perry and Edmund Claman)