Taiwan has lost another diplomatic ally to China just days after its presidential election in what Taipei said was both sudden and designed by Beijing to suppress the island’s “democratic achievements.”
Lai Ching-te, the current vice president and a staunch defender of Taiwan’s distinct identity and sovereignty, won the presidential election on Saturday, handing the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) a historic third straight term.
China’s ruling Communist Party views Taiwan as its own territory, despite having never controlled it, and has ramped up diplomatic pressure on Taipei in recent years, including by poaching its allies.
On Monday, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry condemned China in “the strongest possible terms” for Nauru’s diplomatic switch, which it said came at “a key moment” following the presidential election.
In a regular news briefing Monday, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson did not divulge whether Beijing had pledged financial aid to Nauru, but welcomed its move.
Analysts say these unofficial relationships with powerful Western nations are in many ways more consequential than the official diplomatic ties it maintains with a handful of smaller countries.
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