Kiribati Cuts Taiwan Ties in Favor of China, Further Challenging Taipei
TAIPEI, Taiwan — For the second time in a week, a Pacific island nation has decided to break diplomatic ties with Taiwan in order to establish official relations with China, further isolating Taiwan diplomatically as Beijing spreads its wealth to court the handful of nations that still recognize the government in Taipei.
The government of the small island nation of Kiribati notified Taiwan’s government on Friday that it was terminating diplomatic relations with Taipei. Kiribati’s decision came only four days after the government of the Solomon Islands abandoned ties with Taiwan to recognize China.
The decisions by Kiribati and the Solomon Islands are likely to ripple through domestic politics in Taiwan, where presidential and legislative elections are less than four months away. They underline the growing geostrategic competition between Beijing and Washington in the Pacific, where the United States has long held naval dominance.
Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, a close American ally, is fighting for re-election against a China-friendly opponent, Han Kuo-yu, who is expected to use the now seven countries who have cut ties with Taiwan since her 2016 inauguration to attack her in their campaign. Kiribati’s decision left only 15 countries with diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Washington has been pressuring Pacific countries that recognize Taiwan to maintain their relations with Taipei in order to prevent further expansion of Beijing’s growing influence in the region, which could undermine the United States should a military conflict erupt with China.
In a statement released on Friday, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it “deeply regrets and strongly condemns the Kiribati government’s decision” and accused Kiribati’s president, Taneti Mamau, and his governing party of holding “highly unrealistic expectations regarding China.”
The statement said that Mr. Mamau had recently sought financial assistance from Taiwan to purchase commercial airplanes.
“While Taiwan is willing to assist Kiribati in developing civil infrastructure for the benefit of its people, aid for the acquisition of airplanes for commercial purposes is not consistent with the spirit of Taiwan’s International Cooperation and Development Act,” the statement said.
Taiwan’s government said it suggested lending Kiribati the money to purchase the planes, with Kiribati instead demanding funds in the form of a donation.
“According to information obtained by Taiwan, the Chinese government has already promised to provide full funds for the procurement of several airplanes and commercial ferries, thus luring Kiribati into switching diplomatic relations,” the Taiwanese government statement said.
Zhu Songling, a professor at the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Beijing Union University, said that China was not likely to have been involved in the decisions this week by the governments of the Solomon Islands and Kiribati.
“Right now it’s a pivotal moment for Taiwan’s election,” Mr. Zhu said, adding that under the circumstances, China “would not possibly set out to poach Taiwan’s so-called diplomatic allies,” and in that way giving the governing Democratic Progressive Party in Taipei grounds to claim China’s involvement during an election season.
China’s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan as its territory, despite having never controlled it. Taiwan is governed by the Republic of China, which based itself in Taiwan after losing a bloody civil war to Mao Zedong’s Communist forces in 1949.
Both the Republic of China government in Taipei and the People’s Republic of China government in Beijing claimed to be the rightful ruler of both China and Taiwan until the 1990s, when Taipei effectively abandoned its goal to retake China. To this day, neither Beijing nor Taipei will maintain diplomatic ties with countries that recognize the other.
During the past seven decades, countries have steadily switched recognition to Beijing from Taipei, with the United States doing so in 1979. In the 40 years since Washington abandoned official ties with Taiwan, however, the island has transformed from a military dictatorship to a vibrant democracy, while remaining an important unofficial American ally in the Asia-Pacific region.
At a Friday news conference, Taiwan’s minister of foreign affairs, Joseph Wu, reiterated the significance of its existing ties with the countries with whom it still maintains diplomatic relations, singling out the four Pacific Island nations that recognize Taipei: Tuvalu, Marshall Islands, Nauru and Palau.
“Relations with these four countries are extremely close at the moment,” Mr. Wu said.
This week, however, Tuvalu elected a new prime minister, raising concerns in Taipei and Washington that it may be the next domino to fall. At a Thursday news conference, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, Geng Shuang, was asked by a reporter if China was pushing Tuvalu to switch recognition from Taiwan.
“China’s position is consistent and clear,” Mr. Geng said. “We stand ready to develop friendly cooperative relations with countries around the globe on the basis of the ‘One China’ principle.”
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