Paraguay President’s visit offers diplomatic lifeline to Taiwan

China claims Taiwan as its own territory with no right to diplomatic recognition or other trappings of sovereignty, and insists that the island come under Beijing’s control by force if necessary. Beijing renewed a campaign to diminish the island’s global standing last year after cutting ties with the independence-leaning government of President Tsai Ing-wen, who has refused to endorse China’s insistence that Taiwan is part of China.

Along with plucking away Panama and two of Taiwan’s African allies, Beijing has barred Taiwan’s representatives from attending the World Health Assembly and other gatherings to which they formerly had access. Since Panama broke away, Taiwan’s diplomats have redoubled their efforts to shore up ties with the island’s remaining allies, with analysts saying such relationships remain vital to Taiwan retaining its claimed status as a sovereign nation and maintaining its international profile.

Visits to allies in the Western Hemisphere also permit Taiwan’s leaders to stop off in the United States to meet with American politicians and other supporters. The U.S. switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979, eight years after Taiwan’s seat at the United Nations was given to China. The loss of Panama had an enormous impact on Taiwan’s citizens and diplomats, said Alexander Huang, director of the Institute of Strategic Studies at Taiwan’s Tamkang University.

That’s partly because the relationship stretched back more than 100 years when the Republic of China _ the official name of Taiwan’s government _ ruled all of China from the mainland, Huang said. The ROC was moved to Taiwan in 1949 after Mao Zedong’s Communists drove Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists from the mainland amid civil war. Panama, home to the canal that is crucial to global trade, was also Taiwan’s last partner of major strategic importance and its shift aroused fears of a domino effect on other allies, he said.

“So we need to make sure that even with the worst case scenario, we will try our very best with our counterparts to keep our interests protected, keep our personnel, and that our interests in those countries continue,” Huang said. And despite the challenges, Huang said he sees no prospects for cutting a deal with Beijing on endorsing its “One China” principle in return for maintaining Taiwan’s international presence.

“Everyone in Taiwan across party lines understands that China can continue to humiliate Taiwan because they have the power,” Huang said. “But to continue this kind of game would not necessarily bring about a Chinese unification or win over the minds and hearts of Taiwan people.”