‘Only a matter of time’ before Taiwan has no allies, says Chinese vice foreign minister

Chinese vice foreign minister Le Yucheng on Tuesday, January 18 said it was “a matter of time” before Taiwan lost all of its diplomatic allies as the autonomous island’s international allies have reduced from 22 to 14. “It is a matter of time before Taiwan’s diplomatic allies will be zero,” Le said at the Macro Situation Annual Forum hosted by Renmin University in Beijing, adding that Nicaragua represented “the general trend” and “international justice”.

The latter was referring to Nicaragua’s "seizure" of Taiwan’s embassy and its plans of transferring it to China after the Central American country switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. Since President Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party took office in May 2016, Taiwan has been abandoned by its allies, said the Chinese official adding that Pacific Island nations of Kiribati and the Solomon Islands have also severed ties with Taiwan since 2019. 

China marked 2021 with series of 'diplomatic highlights': Le Yucheng

According to China’s Le Yucheng, the year 2021 was marked by a series of diplomatic highlights for Beijing as he noted that China and Russia also celebrated the 20th anniversary of the China-Russia Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation. Calling out the US for “lies and slanders against China,” without blatantly naming it, Yucheng stated that certain countries seek "bloc politics" in the name of "multilateralism", and fabricates "democracy versus authoritarianism" farces in disguise of "the preacher of democracy”. He went on to add that they clamour "China's tough diplomacy" and label it as China's "coercive diplomacy” that is disrupting international order. “We are not tolerant towards such fabrications,” Yucheng stressed at the conference, adding that China opposes claims to secure the so-called "rules-based international order”. 

Nicaragua earlier last month decided to sever diplomatic links with Taiwan and recognize China leaving the self-governing island democracy with just 14 diplomatic allies, Associated Press reported. Most of the Western Pacific, the Caribbean and Latin American nations side with China as Taiwan strengthened ties with the United States and its allies and partners. Nicaragua's authoritarian President Daniel Ortega had largely rebuked the United States as he had denounced the presidential polls as a “pantomime election” that brought the Biden administration in power. Marxist-Leninist Ortega switched ties to Beijing, instead and gave no reason for the latest change. “Beijing uses more underhanded methods such as threats and bribes to win away Taiwan's allies,” Associated Press explained, adding that China grew in influence and worked to shut Taiwan out of most international bodies and that is one of the reasons for Taiwan losing its allies.