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Malawi backs "One China" policy
A sign of the times and of China's ever increasing global presence: Chinese-Taiwan's circle of supporter shrinks by one.
From the pen of Debby Wu:
TAIPEI, Taiwan - The African nation of Malawi has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of relations with China, which has been using its rising political and economic clout to reduce the number of countries who recognize the island.
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Three Taiwanese diplomats said Monday that their nation was breaking diplomatic ties with Malawi.
Soon after, Chinese state media said Beijing and Malawi had established diplomatic relations late last month.
In a press conference in Malawi's capital, Lilongwe, Foreign Affairs Minister Joyce Banda confirmed that her nation was breaking its 42-year diplomatic relationship with Taiwan in favor of China.
"The Government of the Republic of Malawi recognizes that there is but one China in the world, the Government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and that Taiwan in an inalienable part of China's territory," she said.
China and Taiwan split amid civil war in 1949. Since then they have engaged in an all-out contest to win diplomatic allegiance from countries around the world.
In recent years, Chinese economic enticement have helped it persuade more countries to recognize Beijing instead of Taipei, reducing the number of Taiwan's allies to only 23 following Malawi's defection. China has relations with more than 170 countries.
Most of Taiwan's allies are small and impoverished nations in Latin America, Africa and the South Pacific.
"The Chinese government supports the Malawian government in its efforts to safeguard its state sovereignty and develop its economy," China's Xinhua News Agency quoted a joint communique as saying.
It did not say why Malawi's switch in relations to Beijing was not made public for more than two weeks.
Taiwanese Deputy Foreign Minister Yang Tzu-pao charged that China had used underhanded means to steal away Malawi.
"We deeply regret that Malawi has decided to establish ties with China under Chinese threats and seduction," he told reporters. "We are terminating diplomatic relations with Malawi effective today."
He said China offered Malawi $6 billion to get it to switch sides, and criticized the country for carrying out the move when President Chen Shui-bian was visiting Latin America.
"This is a great humiliation to our government and the Taiwanese people," Yang said. "This is not something a self-proclaimed democratic country with 42-year-long relations with Taiwan should do."
Two senior Malawian diplomats visited Beijing last month. Taiwan's foreign minister James Huang had to abort a planned visit to Malawi in early January to shore up diplomatic support because officials refused to receive him.
Huang said last week that China could undermine the island's diplomatic standing around Saturday's Taiwanese legislative elections and the president's visit to Latin America.
Malawi is the third Taiwanese ally to defect to Beijing in the past 18 months. Chad switched sides in August 2006 and Costa Rica followed suit in June 2007.
"We are facing grave challenges on the diplomatic front," Huang told a group of reporters.
While it might be easy to criticize Malawi for switching sides in exchange for fiscal renumeration, this blogger notes with some irony that Malawi actually held out a lot longer than the majority of the developed world. Most of whom had jumped ship from Chinese-Taiwan to the Mainland a long time prior, and most of whom did it for less than the $US6 billion that Malawi is said to have accepted. Indeed, many nations did it for free.
I appreciate and share the irony you note in your post. Now, there are only
4 (tiny) African countries left that recognize Taiwan. Swaziland, Burkina
Faso, Gambia and Sao Tome/Principe.
Of course, there are some South American countries, too, plus a couple of
island nations. These days about 2 dozen countries recognize still
officially Taiwan.
Pamanush:
This is yet another sad capitulation before the pressure of the PRC. It
would be a small matter for Taiwan to choose to re-unify with the mainland
if the mainland had truly democratic institutions and recognized human
rights in a manner similar to the west Without that why should they
subject themselves to the full scale oppression on the people of the
mainland, or the continuing errosion of freedoms that Hong Kong is
experiencing. I believe in one China, but Taiwan is not a part of that
China until they chooses to be a part of it. If the PRC wants them, they
need to provide the conditions that will entice them to rejoin.
"If the PRC wants them, they need to provide the conditions that will
entice them to rejoin."
so then the kmt takes over taiwan? oh well besides that
why does the taiwanese think they have the right to a private island it
went the same as to the british and the north american lands
lets just say if taiwan some how defeated china which that could never
happen china is 1 billion strong. how would that make any much of a
difference? democracy or death?
democracy is basically enother word for death
did you hear much of the hong kongs bitching about going back to china?
hmm maybe yes and no how ever china had owned it quite some time ago before
the brits got their hands on it
what about alaska and hawaii they are now owned by american soil what if
they both decided to play the same game ?
if i had my own country i would do the same side with china
anyways china will rule the world like germany pretty much had rules europe
but more of a creative and inspirational way for more of a developed life.
china has the means and the army to rule the world they just choose not to.
what you think america and or england will take over hahahahah
Actually, there was a lot of complaint, and a lot of concern that those who
did complain might be deported to the Mainland or simply jailed after the
handover.
I had to come this blog page to comment on your Tiananmen Square video.
Your point of view seems to be outdated - and a half-truth to say the best.
There seems to be all sorts of reliable sources, (i.e., those with
posterity and knowlege of the events) who state that no student or person
died in Tiananmen Square that morning. The death and destruction occured
in a city that was under Marshal Law a few miles away, as workers and
townspeople attempted to block the military from making it to the square.
As far as your video goes - to call that history is an insult to any
historian. You are showing still clips in a mosiac fashion that can be
very misleading. Why not post a proper video of the incident - and
something in its' entirety - rather than a comercial-like, "Naughty word
removed", propagandist waste of megabytes? And anyone who has seen
"Apocolypse Now" will be extremely underwhelmed by your highly touted
musical score at end of your video. It adds no drama to your garbage
attempt at film-making - you are an amature, and I can not take you
seriously on anything you say about China - other than the fact that
Chinese People live therein. You may be correct about some things - but I
can't see trusting what you post for an instant. In fact; my brief foray
into your blog and opinions can be officially designated as "done".
Ah, a critic, and not an original one at that.
FYI: protesters in Tiananmen square played Ode to Joy prior to the
massacre. The music is symbolic, to insult it is to insult China's hopes
for freedom and democracy. If they'd raised the Stars and Stripes, would
you have spat on that, too.