China Accelerates Intimidation Tactics against Taiwan
Xi Jinping is counting on the situation in the Persian Gulf to distract from this brazen attempt to block Taiwan’s engagement with its global partners.
Earlier this month, Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te was scheduled to travel to Eswatini in southern Africa, one of the 12 remaining countries that still officially recognize Taiwan – a list that has shrunk as the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has systematically peeled diplomatic allies off with promises to finance infrastructure projects. President Lai was forced to postpone the trip because Seychelles, Mauritius, and Madagascar off Africa’s eastern coast bowed to PRC pressure and economic coercion and suddenly rescinded Lai’s flight permits.
This is the first time that the Taiwanese head of state has been denied airspace access for an official visit, and both U.S. and EU officials have expressed alarm at China’s abuse of the international civil aviation system “to achieve political objectives.” The incident also signals an escalation in China’s campaign to delegitimize and isolate Taiwan.
In remarks on the incident, China’s Foreign Ministry issued a chilling statement: “[It is] clear… [that] the so-called President of the Republic of China no longer exists in the world anymore,” highlighting Chinese disregard for Taiwanese sovereignty. Xi Jinping is counting on the situation in the Persian Gulf to distract from this brazen attempt to block Taiwan’s engagement with its global partners.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office lavished praise on the three island nations for adhering to the PRC’s One China Principle (OCP). The OCP is a PRC policy construct that is often conflated with UN General Resolution 2758 (UNGA 2758) to exclude Taiwan from international institutions and undermine Taiwan globally.
Read more about how China weaponizes UNGA 2758 in ALEC Policy Champions in West Virginia Support Taiwan’s Participation in International Institutions and The Intersection of the Olympics, Taiwan and UN General Assembly Resolution 2758.
To address concerns about UNGA 2758’s misapplication, ALEC members passed a Resolution to Oppose the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC’s) Misuse of United Nations Resolution 2758 to Delegitimize Taiwan and Exclude Taiwan from International Organizations and Resolution Supporting Taiwan’s Meaningful Participation in International Organizations Including the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and Interpol.
President Lai condemned Beijing’s coercion, and the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Majority, which includes several ALEC Alumni, posted on X: “Yet again, the Chinese Communist Party is trying to bully Taiwan, a close partner of the United States. We stand with Taiwan against this blatant coercion.” However, much of the world is unaware of the situation.
With the conflict in the Persian Gulf capturing so much attention, few notice that China continues to: support Russia’s war against Ukraine; provide weapons to Iran; challenge the U.S. Dollar as the world’s reserve currency; and threaten Taiwan’s sovereignty directly through stepped-up military incursions and indirectly through gray zone measures aimed at delegitimizing and isolating the island nation.
Xi Jinping believes that China is better equipped to develop and lead a new “rules-based order,” and the current geopolitical chaos gives the PRC the cover to undermine the current system and anoint the PRC as the leader of a new one. We ignore China’s fracturing of norms at our peril. The global frameworks created by the United States and shared with the world have been a net benefit to the nation, and China’s vision for the future would be a bleak one for the U.S. and many of its closest international partners, like Taiwan.