In an effort to discourage other nations from cutting ties with Taiwan, US Senators Cory Gardner, Ed Markey, Marco Rubio and Bob Menendez introduced
new legislation last week, the cleverly titled Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative Act. If passed, the Taipei Act would end or diminish foreign assistance to countries that abandon Taiwan.
Washington’s response comes on the heels of Taipei losing
yet another ally to Beijing: El Salvador, which became the third nation this year to switch allegiance. San Salvador’s decision last month coincided with the return of Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, from a
high-profile, nine-day visit to Belize, Paraguay and the United States.
Beijing has stepped up pressure on the self-ruled island ever since Tsai and her independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party took power in 2016. Beijing has since cut official communication with Taipei, conducted
more frequent military exercises near Taiwan, blocked Taiwanese officials from attending
international forums, pushed companies to stop referring to Taiwan as a
nation, and courted more countries to sever their diplomatic ties with Taipei.
Watch: Why closer relations between the US and Taiwan make China uncomfortable
Since Tsai assumed office, four other allies, Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic, Panama, and Sao Tome and Principe have aligned with China, and only 17 mostly small countries now recognise Taiwan as a sovereign nation.
Beijing’s hardening of relations is often linked to Tsai’s
refusal to endorse the “1992 consensus”, which allows different interpretations of “one China”. In response to Beijing’s increasing pressure on Taipei, Tsai has lately taken to quoting
former US president Ronald Reagan: “Everything is negotiable except two things, our freedom and our future.”
Despite the recent loss of allies, Taipei does get the backing of its most powerful ally, the US. While US president Jimmy Carter formally withdrew from diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 in favour of the People’s Republic of China, the US Congress shortly thereafter passed the
Taiwan Relations Act, under which the US pledged “to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means, including by boycotts or embargoes, a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States”.
While Beijing’s poaching of El Salvador may have been peaceful, it nonetheless elicited a sharp response from the White House: “The El Salvadoran government’s receptiveness to China’s apparent interference in the domestic politics of a Western Hemisphere country is of grave concern to the United States, and will result in a re-evaluation of our relationship with El Salvador,” it said in a statement.
