SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republic — The Dominican Republic’s government announced Monday that it is establishing diplomatic relations with China and breaking diplomatic ties with Taiwan and will later recognize Taiwan as an “inalienable part of Chinese territory.”
The decision was the latest setback for Taiwan in the Caribbean and Latin America. Panama dropped its longtime ties with Taiwan last year and established relations with China, which considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory. The island is recognized as a sovereign nation by only 19 mainly small, developing countries, 10 of them in this region.
Beijing has been seeking to increase pressure on Taiwan’s independence-leaning President Tsai Ing-wen. Tsai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party says it wants stable relations with China, but it hasn’t followed Tsai’s predecessor, Ma Ying-jeou, in endorsing the “one China” principle.
Flavio Dario Espinal, legal consultant to the Dominican presidential office, said at a news conference that the change in foreign policy was based on the “needs, potential and future prospects” of his Caribbean nation.
“History and socioeconomics reality now force us to change course,” he said.
Espinal said that even without formal diplomatic relations with China, trade between the two countries “has grown year after year to the point that today China is the second biggest supplier of our imports.”
After Panama cut its ties with Taiwan, Taiwanese Foreign Minister David Tawei Lee visited the Dominican Republic last July as part of a campaign to shore up its relations and propose new cooperation projects. During his stay in Santo Domingo, Lee also met with Taiwan’s ambassadors in Latin America to discuss strategies for not losing more allies.
The Dominican Republic has received millions of dollars in donations for development programs from Taiwan, but the government also started commercial and political contacts with China beginning in the middle of the past decade.
According to the Dominican government, bilateral trade with China has reached $2 billion a year, making the Dominican Republic the second largest trading partner for China among the Caribbean and Central American nations.
Espinal said the government informed Taiwan of its move earlier Monday and thanked the Taiwanese for “the cooperation that we have shared for years.” He said that had allowed “the development of very important programs” for the Dominican Republic.
The Dominican announcement came when it was already Tuesday in China, and Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi and Dominican Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas held a brief event Tuesday morning marking the establishment of ties.
In a joint statement, the countries said the move was “in keeping with the interests and desire of the two peoples” and that the Dominican Republic will sever ties with rival Taiwan as a result.
“The Government of the Dominican Republic recognizes that there is but one China in the world, that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory,” the statement said.
Taiwan split from mainland China amid civil in 1949, and Beijing campaigns relentlessly to isolate the island globally. It cut off relations with Tsai’s government shortly after she took office in 2016 and has been steadily ratcheting up both diplomatic and economic pressure. Chinese analysts say Beijing will likely continue to use its economic and political clout to lure away other Taiwanese allies until Tsai accedes to China’s demands.
Beijing insists that only it has the right to represent China in international society. The island is excluded from the United Nations and other multinational bodies that require official governmental recognition at China’s insistence.
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