Anoushka -
To take the wind out of Taipei’s sails after the recent pro-sovereignty Presidential win in Taiwan, China diminished Taiwanese global diplomatic allies from to an alarming 12 countries by paying its way into Nauru’s good books. The Pacific Island nation has been ping ponging between Taiwan and China for the past two decades. The story goes somewhat like this: Taiwan till 2002, then China till 2005 and back to Taiwan… until now. On 15 January, 2024 Nauru severed ties with Taiwan, making the Marshall islands, Tuvalu and Palau, Taiwan’s last three Pacific allies. Nauru’s foreign policy is often guided by where the money is as evidenced by its recognition of South Ossetia, a secessionist part of Georgia,in exchange for a cool $50 million of Russian “humanitarian” aid in 2009. Even worse? Nauru is but one of several Pacific countries in dire economic straits.
Bibliography:
Keen, Meg, and Mihai Sora. 2024. “Nauru’s Diplomatic Switch to China – the Rising Stakes in Pacific Geopolitics | Lowy Institute.” Www.lowyinstitute.org. January 18, 2024. https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/nauru-s-diplomatic-switch-china-rising-stakes-pa cific-geopolitics.
Peake, Gordon, and Camilla Pohle. 2024. “Financially Weak Pacific Island States Are Vulnerable to China.” United States Institute of Peace. January 18, 2024. https://www.usip.org/publications/2024/01/financially-weak-pacific-island-states-are-vulnerabl e-china.
“Tiny Nauru Struts World Stage by Recognising Breakaway Republics.” 2009. The Guardian. December 14, 2009. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/14/nauro-recognises-abkhazia-south-ossetia.
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