Panama’s defection vexes Taiwanese

BEIJING — Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen reacted angrily on Tuesday to Panama’s decision to shift diplomatic ties to China, insisting that Taipei would never bow down to threats and intimidation from Beijing and was determined to uphold its sovereignty.

Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela announced on television Monday evening that he was establishing diplomatic ties with China and breaking with Taiwan, saying he was “convinced this is the correct path for our country.” He added that China constitutes 20 percent of the world’s population, has the second-biggest economy and is the second-biggest user of the Panama Canal.

The move comes as China steps up efforts to isolate Taipei internationally since last year’s election of Tsai.

“The Government of the Republic of Panama recognizes that only one China exists in the world, the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government that represents all China, and Taiwan forms an inalienable part of Chinese territory,” a joint statement from China and Panama read.

Panama is the second country to break with Taiwan since Tsai’s election last year, after the small African islands of Sao Tome and Principe.

Taiwan was not invited to the annual assembly of the World Health Organization last month for the first time in eight years, and it was also excluded from a global forum of the International Civil Aviation Organization last year. Both moves reportedly came at Beijing’s insistence, as it makes clear its displeasure with Tsai’s reluctance to explicitly endorse the idea that there is only one China, encompassing both the mainland and the island of Taiwan.

China considers Taiwan to be part of its territory and insists that any country that establishes diplomatic relations with Beijing must cut them with Taipei. It says its own relationship with Taipei is founded on the “1992 consensus” between the two sides that effectively rules out the idea of Taiwan ever gaining independence.

But that was a deal reached by a government run by the Kuomintang party in Taiwan, not Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party, and while Tsai has indicated she respects the agreement and says she wants dialogue and friendly ties with Beijing, she has been reluctant to spell out an explicit endorsement.

In the past, China and Taiwan had competed with each other to win diplomatic allies, wooing poorer countries with promises of aid and investment. But they established an unofficial truce under the Kuomintang government, with neither trying aggressively to upset the status quo, experts say.

Panama’s move drops to 20 the number of countries formally recognizing Taiwan, most of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China, tweeted that he expected the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua to follow suit soon. “Big question is, will Vatican ditch Taiwan for Beijing?” he added.

Tsai addressed the Taiwanese people on Tuesday afternoon, vowing that Taipei would not engage in a “diplomatic bidding war,” nor succumb to Beijing’s threats.

“We are a sovereign country. This sovereignty cannot be challenged or traded,” she said, insisting that her people want peace but that Beijing was pushing relations toward confrontation.

“Coercion and threats will not bring the two sides together. Instead, they will drive our two peoples apart,” she said. “On behalf of the 23 million people of Taiwan, I declare that we will never surrender to such intimidation.”