Dominican Republic severs diplomatic ties with Taiwan, establishes with Beijing

Beijing: Cash-rich China continues to lure away handful of countries still maintaining diplomatic links with Taiwan as the Dominican Republic today became the latest country to breakaway from Taipei and establish diplomatic ties with Beijing. Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Dominican Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas signed a joint communique here on the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and the Caribbean nation. “The Government of the Dominican Republic recognises that there is but one China in the world, that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” the communique said. [caption id=“attachment_4268839” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters[/caption] “Hence the Government of the Dominican Republic (DR) severs ‘diplomatic relations’ with Taiwan as of this day,” it said. China views Taiwan as a breakaway province that must be reunited with the mainland. The Dominican Republic’s decision to end the ties is the latest setback for Taiwan which is recognised by handful of small countries. Last year, Panama broke away from Taipei and established ties with China, recognising Taiwan to be a Chinese territory. With this the number of countries that maintain full diplomatic ties with Taiwan has now been reduced to 19, which are mainly small, developing countries, 10 of whom are in Latin America. The ‘One China’ policy, which states Taiwan and Tibet as part of China, forms part of basis for all the countries to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing. Taiwan has been accusing China of luring small countries, backing it with big investment offers. Last year, Taiwan expressed “anger and regret” over the “very unfriendly” diplomatic turn by Panama and accused it of “bullying” Taipei while “ignoring the many years of friendship” between the two countries. Taiwan said it would “not compete with the Beijing authorities for money diplomacy”. The countries those have diplomatic links with Taiwan include Belize, El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Guatemala, Paraguay, Honduras and Saint Lucia, Burkina Faso and Swaziland, The Holy See, Kiribati, Nauru, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and Palau. Establishing diplomatic ties with China brings the Dominican Republic great opportunities and will benefit the people of DR, the state-run Xinhua quoted Wang as saying. According to media reports, Taipei said it was “deeply upset” at the decision, which it blamed on “dollar diplomacy”. “The government deeply regrets that Dominican Republic and China established ties on May 1. The ministry strongly condemns China’s objectionable decision to use dollar diplomacy to convert Taiwan’s diplomatic allies,” Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu said. He accused Beijing of failing to honour its promises to those countries it had wooed away. “Its actions had damaged cross-strait relations and eroded trust,” said Wu.