In blow to Taiwan, Dominican Republic forges ties with China
By EMILY WANG and JOHNSON LAI
Associated Press
BEIJING (AP) – The Dominican Republic established diplomatic relations with China on Tuesday, breaking ties with Beijing’s rival Taiwan in the latest blow to the self-ruled island democracy China has been trying to isolate on the global stage. Taiwan said it was “deeply upset” by the move.
Officials from China and the Dominican government signed a joint communique at an event in Beijing announcing the establishment of ties. The Dominican Republic “breaks diplomatic relations with Taiwan, which is an inalienable part of China, and will not maintain any kind of official relations or contacts,” said foreign minister Miguel Vargas, who sat alongside Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi.
The decision was the latest setback for Taiwan in the Caribbean and Latin America. Panama dropped its longtime ties with Taiwan last year and established relations with China, which considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory. The island is recognized as a sovereign nation by only 19 mainly small, developing countries.
Taiwan criticized what it called China’s “dollar diplomacy” and announced it would terminate ties with the Dominican Republic immediately, including all projects and assistance it provides to the Caribbean nation.
“This is an unfriendly and destructive approach to cross-strait relations,” Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen told reporters at an event in Taipei, referring to China’s action. “These actions will make the people in Taiwan feel disappointed and increase the variables in cross-strait relations.”
The announcement came just a day after Tsai had met with the foreign minister of Haiti, one of Taiwan’s allies, in Taipei.
Beijing has been seeking to increase pressure on Tsai, whose independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party says it wants stable relations with China, but refuses to endorse the “one China” principle.
Some analysts say Chinese President Xi Jinping, one of the most powerful Chinese leaders in decades, seems determined to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s control during his time in office, something that would place him in the history books alongside Mao Zedong.
The island’s 23 million residents are strongly in favor of maintaining their de facto independent status, but Xi has previously warned a Taiwanese envoy that the issue of unification cannot be put off indefinitely.
Wang, China’s foreign minister, hailed “a new page in the history of bilateral ties” between Beijing and the Dominican Republic. “From now on, China has one more good friend in Latin America with whom we could help each other,” Wang said.
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Beijing had offered “vast financial incentives” to the Dominican Republic to get it to end 77 years of diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Wu warned that Beijing has failed to deliver on hundreds of millions of dollars in pledges to some of Taiwan’s former diplomatic allies. He said the Taiwanese government was “deeply upset by China’s actions.”
Source: http://www.wnem.com
May 1, 2018
Category: DR News |