China Claims Diplomatic Coup Over Taiwan With Solomon Switch

(Bloomberg) -- The Solomon Islands broke diplomatic ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing, leaving the democratically run island with just 16 diplomatic partners amid China’s efforts to isolate it.

It’s the seventh nation -- and the first in the Pacific -- to establish ties with Beijing since Taiwan’s independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen was elected in January 2016. Reuters reported earlier this month that China was offering to bankroll a development fund for the Solomons if it switched diplomatic ties to Beijing.

Taiwan confirmed the diplomatic setback Monday evening as it severed relations with the Pacific island nation in a reciprocal move.

“China is squeezing Taiwan’s international space through dollar diplomacy and political pressure,” Tsai said Monday. “Not only is this a threat to Taiwan, it is also an open challenge and assault on the international order.”

The switch came after a last-minute diplomatic charm offensive from Taiwan. The two former allies promised to deepen ties during a visit by the Solomon Islands’ foreign minister to Taiwan last week.

Taiwan and El Salvador cut ties last August, months after Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic switched recognition to Beijing.

While China has only lured away a third of the 22 allies Taiwan had at the start of Tsai’s term, they’ve picked off the most valuable ones. With the Solomon Islands’ break, China has reduced Taiwan’s formal diplomatic footprint by 46% in terms of population and 52% in terms of economic output since Tsai came to power.

“The Solomon Islands’ decision places Taiwan’s other Pacific allies under more pressure to switch, since the Solomons is by far the largest of Taiwan’s remaining allies in the region,” said Graeme Smith, a fellow at Australian National University’s Department of Pacific Affairs. “The U.S. had been advocating very strongly against a switch, but Solomons more than most have a strong sense of being abandoned by the U.S.”

Beijing and Taipei competed for diplomatic recognition since 1949, when Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek’s flight to Taiwan established a stalemate with each side claiming to be the legitimate ruler of China.

China highly appreciates the Solomon Islands’ decision to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing and sever its relationship with Taiwan, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement. She reiterated the significance of the “one-China” principle.

--With assistance from Linly Lin.

To contact the reporter on this story: Samson Ellis in Taipei at sellis29@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Liu at jliu42@bloomberg.net, ;Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Karen Leigh, Ruth Pollard

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