Taiwan expects more diplomatic pressure from China after Xi Jinping’s re-election

The Taiwanese Foreign Minister estimated on Wednesday that after the re-election of President Xi Jinping last week, China will redouble its efforts to win over Taiwan’s allied countries.

“It is possible that our diplomatic situation will worsen,” Joseph Wu told the Taiwanese parliament on Wednesday.

China, which regards Taiwan as part of its territory, is seeking to take control of it, by force if necessary, and has for decades encouraged the island’s allies to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing.

The Taiwanese foreign minister believes that Chinese pressure will intensify on the 14 countries that still maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei, as Chinese officials will want to “show their loyalty” to Xi.

“We have seen intelligence information warning us (…). We hope that our diplomatic relations will not be influenced by China.” Wu said.

“All our embassies and missions are on high alert (…) We will verify this information and take measures to consolidate diplomatic relations”he added.

Beijing has intensified military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taipei since the 2016 election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen.

Tsai made her first public comments on Wednesday about the Communist Party of China Congress that ended over the weekend, calling for unity in the face of “The spread of Chinese authoritarianism”.

“The more prepared we are, the less chance Beijing has to rush ahead; The more united we are, the stronger and safer Taiwan will be.”he said at a meeting of his party.

Tensions between Taiwan and China reached their highest level in years in August after Beijing held unprecedented military exercises to protest a visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Beijing lashes out at any diplomatic action that could give Taiwan international legitimacy and has responded with growing anger at visits by Western politicians.

Source: Elcomercio

Ronald Payne

I, Ronald Payne, am a journalist and author who dedicated his life to telling the stories that need to be said. I have over 7 years of experience as a reporter and editor, covering everything from politics to business to crime.