Breaking Ties with Six Countries, Tsai Ing-wen’s Cross-Strait Policy Is a Bottomless Pit

 Breaking Ties with Six Countries, Tsai Ing-wen’s Cross-Strait Policy Is a Bottomless Pit

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

September 19, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The Solomon Islands’ Cabinet resolved in a meeting recently to sever diplomatic relations with our country; this was our biggest diplomatic partner in the South Pacific and also the sixth country to break ties with us in over three years under Tsai Ing-wen’s administration. The Tsai government lost six countries, indicating that her cross-Strait policy is a bottomless pit.

The six states that severed ties with us under the Tsai government include two in Africa, i.e., São Tomé and Príncipe and Burkina Faso; three in Central America, i.e., Panama, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador; and the last one is precisely the Solomon Islands, situated in the South Pacific. That the Solomon Islands' severance of ties with us elicited the intervention and concern of the United States and Australia was principally because that country is in the backyard of Australia; the influence of Mainland China extending to this area has made Australia ill at ease. The problem is that even if US and Australian high echelons both made moves, they could not prevent the Solomon Islands’ decision to switch to Beijing.

In over three years in the past, Tsai Ing-wen’s narrative remained unchanged: the rupture of diplomatic ties was the result of "the PRC’s oppression," "checkbook lure" and the “sacrificing righteousness for benefits” on the part of erstwhile diplomatic partners. With such easy extrication, the Tsai government never self-reflected on whether our own cross-Strait policy was reasonable or whether our diplomatic strategy was wise. If the public accepted such rhetoric of passing the buck, even accepted the brainwashing of "maintaining how many diplomatic partners in fact has not much meaning", believing all was because of Mainland China’s, manipulations and oppression, then the DPP government would not have to be responsible for any diplomatic missteps, as it has the best scapegoat that would shoulder limitless sins.

If the Tsai government’s cross-Strait policy is not adjusted, with respect to its impact on Taiwan’s diplomacy, national defense, economy/trade, and tourism, it will be a bottomless pit. At this juncture, a "sense of the nation’s demise" permeates Taiwan, which partly comes from the constriction of our international space. Even the moves of US and Australian high echelons could not have prevented the Solomon Islands’ decision to break ties with us; could the Tsai government still harbor wishful thinking?

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