Taiwan has suffered yet another major diplomatic setback as the Dominican Republic announced this week that it has decided to break off with Taipei and switch allegiance to Beijing.

Almost immediately, Taiwan’s presidential office issued a statement expressing deep concern at the decision of the Caribbean nation, and also strongly criticizing Beijing for its “dollar diplomacy”.

Dominican Republic was the third country snatched by Beijing from Taipei since the independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen took office as Taiwan’s president in 2016.

With the Dominican Republic gone, the number of countries which are still maintaining formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan is now down to an all-time low of just 19.

Unfortunately, the Dominican Republic won’t be the last to ditch Taipei. The Vatican, for example, has been working eagerly and aggressively to establish formal diplomatic relations with Beijing in recent years.

And under the “One China” principle, it is perhaps just a matter of time before the Vatican would eventually give Taiwan the parting shot. It appears all Taipei can do is wait for the other shoe to drop.

Losing foreign allies to Beijing one after another is certainly devastating for President Tsai and her administration, and may also upset some Taiwanese people as well.

That said, in reality, we believe that the saga would at best have symbolic meanings for the Taiwanese, and would inflict very minor, if not totally zero, losses to the island.

In our view, losing a small and insignificant ally as the Dominican Republic might indeed turn out to be a blessing in disguise for Taipei, as it no longer has to pour tens of millions of dollars in foreign aid every year into the tiny Caribbean nation just to secure its nominal and shaky diplomatic friendship.

Besides, Taiwan’s actual trade volume with most of its existing foreign allies is virtually insignificant compared to the US and European markets. Therefore, losing their nominal friendship is unlikely to have serious implications for Taiwan’s economy.

And if Beijing is really attempting to undermine the election prospects of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in Taiwan’s upcoming local elections later this year and its 2020 presidential election by snatching Taipei’s foreign friends, we believe such plan would hardly work.

It is because as far as the Taiwanese voters are concerned, losing one or two small and remote foreign allies which most of them have barely even heard of is certainly not a decisive factor that would substantially influence their voting decisions.

And intriguingly, even though Taiwan seems to be getting increasingly isolated these days, according to the recent “World Passport Index” published by the international immigration consultancy Henley & Partners, Taiwanese passport holders are still entitled to visa-free treatment in 134 countries and regions, as compared to only 60 by holders of the PRC passport.

In other words, even though there are now only a handful of countries on earth that still recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state, it hasn’t undermined the convenience enjoyed by Taiwanese passport holders when travelling abroad.

At the end of the day, we believe what is truly key to Taiwan’s continued survival as a political entity is its unofficial but solid ties with the US.

Even though Washington officially cut diplomatic ties with Taipei back in 1979, over the years it has continued to maintain a concrete yet low-profile relations with Taiwan up to the present day.

For example, under the “Taiwan Relations Act”, Washington has established the American Institute in Taiwan in Taipei, which for years has been serving as the de facto US embassy on the island.

Also, the US Congress, much to the dismay of Beijing, recently passed the “Taiwan Travel Act”, which is aimed to facilitate dialogue and exchanges between high-ranking government officials in Washington and Taipei.

More importantly, even in the absence of formal diplomatic ties, the US has been throwing its weight behind Taiwan over the decades through sustained arms sales and, if necessary, the deployment of its aircraft carrier battle groups to the Taiwan Strait as a deterrent to Beijing’s saber-rattling.

Suffice it to say that as long as Taiwan can continue to secure its unofficial but solid relationship with the US in the foreseeable future, there is basically nothing much to be worried about.

If anything, while Beijing’s aggressive bid to isolate Taiwan is unlikely to inflict much actual harm on the island, it may actually backfire and further alienate the Taiwanese public.

sumber

bagus lah Tai-one gak takut temennya dikit, yg penting tetep maju
drpd tukang rengek di timur Mediterania, gila pengakuan diplomatik tp kebutuhannya masih ngemis ke musuhnya