Tonga officially switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to the mainland yesterday as a Xinhua commentary warned Taipei's 'international space' is shrinking.
'Eleven out of 16 member-countries of the South Pacific Forum and 163 countries in the world have already established diplomatic ties with Beijing,' Xinhua said.
'More would like to normalise relations with us.' It said that during a visit by Tongan Foreign Minister Prince Ulukalala Lavaka Ata to Beijing last week, President Jiang Zemin told him he hoped the mutual ties could be steady and lasting.
'The establishment of our formal diplomatic ties is a logical move of the development of international reality,' Xinhua quoted Mr Jiang as saying.
At a meeting with Vice-Premier Qian Qichen, the prince pledged not to meddle in Taiwan affairs as he considered it an internal matter for the mainland.
The switch followed a joint communique signed on October 26 between Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan and Prince Ulukalala. 'The Kingdom of Tonga recognises that the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory,' Xinhua quoted the communique as saying.