Pacific nation changes allegiance to Beijing just days after Solomon Islands also cut ties with Taipei

Taiwan has lost its second diplomatic ally in less than a week after the Pacific nation of Kiribati moved to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan and establish foreign relations with China.

The decision comes after the Solomon Islands announced it was breaking away from Taiwan on Monday, and means that in just a week the number of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies has dropped from 17 to 15.

Taiwan’s foreign minister Joseph Wu announced on Friday that the country was cutting diplomatic ties with Kiribati and immediately closing its embassy in the country.

In a statement, he said Taiwan “rejects and strongly condemns” Kiribati for disregarding the long-standing relationship and aid provided by Taiwan and accused Kiribati’s president Taneti Mamau of entertaining “highly unrealistic expectations regarding China” and requesting “massive financial assistance from Taiwan to purchase commercial airplanes”, which Taiwan did not feel was consistent with its aid policy.

Taiwan made the announcement before the Kiribati government formally announced its decision to cut ties with Taiwan in a pre-emptive move, as it did ahead of the Solomon Islands announcing their switch.

The move will be a “significant blow” to Taiwan, says Jonathan Pryke, director of the Lowy Institute’s Pacific Islands Program. Self-ruled Taiwan has lost seven allies since 2016 since the election of president, Tsai Ing-wen, who is seeking re-election in January amid rising tension with China.

“Another one bites the dust in the Pacific,” said Pryke. “It’s certainly not a good week for Taiwan, losing two of your remaining 17 diplomatic allies in one week, and two with the largest populations in the Pacific.”

Taiwan has been a de facto sovereign nation since the end of a civil war in 1949, but China still views the island as its territory and has vowed to bring it under central control. Taiwan is self-ruled, but China considers it a wayward province and will not have diplomatic relations with any country that recognises Taiwan as a state.

Over the decades, dozens of countries, including the US and most western nations, have switched recognition to Beijing, leaving just a handful of countries loyal to Taiwan, largely in Latin America and the Pacific.

The south Pacific has been a diplomatic stronghold for Taiwan, where, until this week, formal ties with six island nations made up more than a third of its total alliances.

Kiribati (pronounced Kiribas), a country of 115,000 people in the south Pacific, was the largest of Taiwan’s Pacific allies in terms of population after the Solomon Islands, a country of about 600,000 people, cut ties with the country earlier this week.

Kiribati’s decision leaves Taiwan with four remaining Pacific allies: Tuvalu, Nauru, Palau and Marshall Islands as well as allies in the Caribbean and Latin America.

China’s concerted attempt to peel allies away from Taipei could be seen putting pressure on Tsai, who is pro-Taiwanese sovereignty, ahead of the upcoming election in Taiwan in January.

After the Solomon Islands cut ties with Taiwan, the US said it would consider cutting aid to the Solomon Islands in retribution.

Gloria Steele, acting assistant administrator of USAID’s Asia bureau, told a House budget hearing: “We are reassessing our assistance to the Solomon Islands at this point.”

“It’s interesting this is the hill the US has decided to die on in the Pacific,” said Pryke. “For one, it’s a pretty hypocritical position for them to be taking, considering they don’t recognise Taiwan, they recognise China. But also, the US gives a paltry sum of money to the Solomon Islands; according to Lowy Institute Pacific Aid Map data they gave 0.3% of all foreign aid from 2011-2017 … I think they’d be laughing at it in [the Solomon Islands’ capital of] Honiara considering the lack of engagement they’ve got from the US to date.”