Last week, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te went on a whirlwind tour of the Pacific, visiting three countries that belong to a highly exclusive club: Taiwan’s diplomatic allies. It is up to the United States to help Taiwan protect and expand this club.
Lai’s island-hopping campaign – the first international trip of his presidency – was doubly symbolic. First, only 12 countries officially recognize the vibrant island democracy of Taiwan, and three of them are in the Pacific. And second, Lai’s trip is to a region at the front lines of the United States’ strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Not only is the Pacific strategic for Taiwan as the home of these three allies, but it’s also home to the Second Island Chain, the islands extending from Japan to Guam to Palau, which is critical to deterring the CCP from invading Taiwan and therefore preventing war.
Unfortunately for Taiwan, over many years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) led by the CCP has engaged in a concerted campaign to diplomatically isolate Taiwan, stripping away countries that have official relations with the democracy. Since 2013, the PRC has enticed 11 countries to sever relations with Taiwan, often through bribes and broader economic inducements.
Nowhere else has this been more evident than in the Pacific. From the Solomon Islands to Kiribati, the CCP has bribed countries to abandon Taiwan by promising massive infrastructure projects, often plagued by corruption or opaque terms. In fact, right after Taiwan elected Lai this year, Beijing showed its ardent displeasure by swiping another Pacific ally, Nauru – despite the substantial financial support provided by Taiwan.
The three remaining Pacific countries that Lai visited are now bearing the brunt of CCP pressure. And they need Taiwan and the United States’ help. For example, Palau has been shut out of regional economic summits by the CCP because of its recognition of Taiwan. The Marshall Islands has faced suspected CCP bribery scandals and “elite capture” – a form of political warfare that seeks to control the actions of political, academic, business, and cultural leaders. And Tuvalu is facing similar pressure as its free press is besieged by CCP disinformation and bribery operations.
Taiwan has the right to participate on the international stage. Despite widely-promoted CCP propaganda, nothing in U.N. General Assembly Resolution 2758, which redefined the representation of China at the United Nations, stipulates that Taiwan cannot participate internationally.
All this is why protecting Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies and other relationships around the world is so important: the CCP is intent on forcing every nation that currently recognizes Taiwan to abandon that support, particularly those nations along the Second Island Chain.
That is why I introduced the Taiwan Allies Fund Act in the U.S. Congress. The bill would provide funds to Taiwan’s friends around the world that face PRC economic coercion, such as Taiwan’s Pacific allies. By helping those countries that support Taiwan, the United States can advance global development, combat PRC coercion, and uphold our long-standing policy of protecting Taiwan’s international space.
The Taiwan Relations Act of 1979 states that it is U.S. policy “to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of the people on Taiwan.” The Taiwan Allies International Protection and Enhancement Initiative (TAIPEI) Act of 2019 states the U.S. government should support Taiwan in strengthening both its official and unofficial relationships around the world.
Instead of abandoning Taiwan, we should be looking for ways to deepen our support for the island. And we should do that where Taiwan is most vulnerable: in the Pacific, far from Washington, but central to our strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party.