My Take | A difficult time both at home and abroad for Tsai Ing-wen’s Taiwan
- From a sign of the deep ties that still exist across the strait to the dwindling number of diplomatic friends, all is not well for the island
All is not well lately for Taiwan at the diplomatic and domestic fronts. More than 500 retired Taiwanese military officers reportedly plan to attend the 99th anniversary of the Whampoa Military Academy in mainland China. While heavily criticised by the government of President Tsai Ing-wen, her secessionist Democratic Progressive Party and their media allies, it shows the deep cultural and racial ties between people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Those ties are not so easily severed however hard the island’s secessionist ideologues have tried. It is heartening that many veterans of the two militaries still consider each other as brothers, sadly separated by history and geopolitics.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Honduras’ President Xiomara Castro tweeted that her government is preparing to switch diplomatic relations from the island to mainland China.
That will make the central American nation the ninth country, or the fifth in Latin America, to make the switch since Tsai took office in May 2016. The island will be left with only 12 nations, along with the Vatican and Somaliland, that still recognise it diplomatically.
That’s hardly a political achievement for Tsai or her party to write home about. But then, she has been mesmerised by the warm embrace of the United States. In her eyes, only Washington counts, even if it means turning her island into a beachhead for the Americans to take on China that could well trigger the third world war.
Castro is not just another Latin American politician. A social democrat, she won a landslide victory in 2021 on a campaign to root out corruption, alleviate poverty and liberalise abortion laws for women. Like Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, she is not on the good side of Uncle Sam, especially after her latest declaration of intent to recognise mainland China. But she does have a clear-cut mandate from the people.
In recent weeks, her foreign minister, Eduardo Enrique Reina, has complained that Taiwan has not responded to his country’s request to double its annual aid to US$100 million. Nor has it shown willingness to renegotiate the US$600 million debt Honduras owes. Honduras wants China to help it build three dams, the first of which already received US$298 million two years ago, and to refinance its external debts of about US$8 billion, including that owed to Taiwan. The Chinese ambassador in Costa Rica has reportedly been approached to help set up an embassy in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.