E-nternational Relations
Jun 22 2020
By: Saber Salem
Over the past two decades, there has been an unprecedented growth and expansion in the level and magnitude of Sino-Taiwan aid competition in the Pacific region. The two Asiatic economic giants have been appropriating colossal sums of their aid funds to the developing and least developed island nations for diplomatic recognition. It is believed that it will not take long for China to overtake Australia as the largest creditor to the region after it “committed to spending more than four times as much as Australia” (Lyons, 2018). In 2017, China pledged US$4 billion to the island nations for high visibility infrastructure projects across the region (Lyons, 2018). Taiwan has equally been persistent in its pursuit of diplomatic recognition to garner international support through aid diplomacy.
The Sino-Taiwan rivalry goes back to 1950s when the US intervened in Taiwan Strait following the Korean War and prevented the complete Chinese takeover of the island nation and annexing it to mainland China. Enjoying support from the United States, Taiwan continued to compete with China for diplomatic recognition globally (Atkinson, 2010). The Republic of China (ROC) enjoyed the luxury of occupying the UN Seat. In 1971, however, ROC lost the UN Seat to People’s Republic of China (PRC) by failing to gather enough international support and backing. The US and its allies also recognised PRC in a bid to isolate the Soviet Union. Thus, the US reduced its level of cooperation with Taiwan and increased it with China. The US also encouraged its allies Japan and Germany to engage more with China, so much so, that during 1970s Japan was China’s biggest foreign aid donor constructing airports, seaports, railways, roads and hydropower dams (Nowak, 2015).
Furthermore, as the UN permanent seat and veto right was bestowed upon PRC, Taiwan fought back and intensified its diplomatic competition with China by providing development aid to cash-starved countries around the world in return for diplomatic recognition. This Sino-Taiwan diplomatic soft war coincided with the wind of decolonisation that was sweeping through the developing and underdeveloped world. The newly independent nations were in desperate need for foreign assistance to address their burgeoning socio-economic needs. Bearing that in mind, China and Taiwan both started pumping aid for diplomatic recognition to the newly de-colonised nations around the world particularly to the small island nations of the Pacific. To Taipei’s dismay, Beijing had an upper hand over Taiwan because of it's "U(N Leverage". [FULL REPORT]