US Blustering at Taiwan’s Departing Allies Won’t Work

If the United States wants to defend Taiwan, it might consider avenues that refrain from signaling disregard for a delicate security architecture in the Pacific.

The Diplomat
Date: September 25, 2019
By: Jonathan Stutte

In part of its long-term effort to delegitimize Taiwan as an independent state, China has pushed states

to switch their recognition of China from the Republic of China (ROC or Taiwan) to the People’s Republic of China (PRC or China). Last week, both the Solomon Islands and Kiribati switched recognition, leaving only 15 countries left that still recognize the government in Taiwan as representing China.

The United States was swift to respond, not to China, but to the Solomon Islands. Vice President Mike Pence immediately cancelled an upcoming meeting with Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare. Senator Marco Rubio has threatened to explore ways of cutting ties with the islands including ending financial assistance and restricting access to U.S. financing.

The United States has the room to threaten severing ties with the Solomon Islands as the small island nation offers relatively little to U.S. interests in the region. The optics, however, are poor considering the great importance the islands played for the United States in defeating the Japanese in World War II. The move would also be inconsistent with the United States’ own policy, which recognizes the PRC as China and the ROC in Taiwan as a renegade province. Most importantly, the threats signal a growing contempt for U.S. allies and client states if their actions do not contribute directly or materially to American interests in the Pacific. This sacrifices a greater Pacific strategy to keep China in check and defend Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]