Taipei, Sep 17: Taiwan has on Monday accused China of “dollar diplomacy” and blamed it for attempting to influence the territory’s forthcoming legislative and presidential elections after the Solomon Islands disconnect ties with Taiwan – the sixth nation to cut off diplomatic and bilateral ties since Tsai Ing-wen assumed the office as president in 2016.
Taiwan, a self-ruled island, now has formal ties with just 16 nations, numbers of them less-developed, small countries in the Pacific and Central America, including Nauru and Belize.
While interacting with reporters in Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, Tsai said her nation would never bow to the Chinese pressure, according to Al-Jazeera news reports.
“Over the past few years, China has continually used financial and political pressure to suppress Taiwan’s international space,” Tsai said, describing the Chinese move “a brazen challenge and detriment to the international order”.
“I want to emphasize that Taiwan will not engage in dollar diplomacy with China in order to satisfy unreasonable demands,” she said.
In an official statement, the Chinese foreign ministry said it “highly condemns” the actions adhered to suspend diplomatic relations with Taiwan, adding that it was a part of an “irresistible trend”.
“We stand ready to work with the Solomon Islands to open new broad prospects for our bilateral relations,” ministry’s spokesperson Hua Chunying said in an official statement late on Monday.
The Solomon Islands’ decision followed a 30-day-long review of all the pros and cons of switching ties to Beijing – which was offering at least $8.5 million in state development funds in order to replace backing from Taiwan.
During a cabinet vote on Monday, parliament voted 27-6 in favour of shift ties, making an “overwhelming” majority, a Soloman Islands MP told Reuters.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has said Beijing’s offer was more likely to present significant development fundings to his impoverished country, where less than 50 percent of the population has access to electricity.
Joseph Wu, Taiwan’s foreign minister, said the nation would immediately halt its diplomacy and shut its embassy in the Solomon Islands and further recall its envoys.
“The Chinese government attacked Taiwan purposely before our presidential and legislative elections, obviously aiming to meddle with the voting,” Wu said. “The government strongly condemns this and urges people to hold onto its sovereignty and the value of freedom and democracy.”