Taiwan severed ties with the Solomon Islands on Monday after learning the Pacific nation was switching diplomatic recognition to China, as Taipei accused Beijing of using "dollar diplomacy" to buy off its few remaining allies.

The switch is a major coup for Beijing just weeks before it celebrates the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

And it leaves Taiwan more isolated than ever with just 16 nations left that recognise it.

Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu said Taipei had learned that the cabinet of Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare had made the decision to recognise Beijing earlier Monday.

"The government hereby declares the termination of diplomatic relations with the Solomon Islands with immediate effect," Wu said, adding Taiwanese diplomats were being withdrawn from Honiara and that Solomons envoys would be expected to do the same.

"The government of China has once again resorted to dollar diplomacy and false promises of large amounts of foreign assistance to buy off a small number of politicians," Wu added.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen said she felt "strong regret and condemnation" over the decision, while in Beijing, the move was hailed.

"We welcome the Solomon Islands in seizing a historical opportunity," Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said in a statement.

Sogavare, who governs through a coalition after an April election, had been under intense pressure from parliamentary colleagues who saw little benefit in staying with the shrinking band of nations that officially recognise Taipei.

He had publicly said China was seen as more likely to provide significant infrastructure funding to the impoverished nation, where less than 50 percent of the population have access to electricity.

He also said switching to China would give the Solomons greater leverage over traditional regional powers, citing Fiji, which shrugged off sanctions imposed by Australia and New Zealand following a 2006 military coup by boosting relations with China.

- Increasingly isolated -

Taiwan has been a de facto sovereign nation since the end of a civil war in 1949, but China still views the island as its territory and has vowed to seize it -- by force if necessary.

Over the decades, as China's economic and military power has grown, most countries, including the United States and most Western nations, switched recognition to Beijing.

In the last decade, only a handful of nations remained loyal to Taiwan, largely in Latin America and the Pacific.

But Beijing stepped up its campaign to diplomatically isolate Taiwan after Tsai's 2016 landslide election because she hails from a party that refuses to recognise the idea that the island is part of "one China".

It has also ramped up military drills and squeezed the island economically.

The small African nation of Sao Tome and Principe was the first to fall, switching recognition to Beijing in late 2016, followed by Burkina Faso and then three Latin American nations: Panama, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

Tsai is seeking re-election in January polls that will be dominated by relations with China.

She has described the election as a "fight for freedom and democracy", setting herself up as someone who can defend Taiwan from an increasingly assertive Beijing.

Responding to the break with the Solomons, Tsai accused China of "sapping Taiwan's morale and the people's will by cutting our diplomatic countries and other suppression".

Her main challenger Han Kuo-yu, from the opposition Kuomintang party, favours rebooting the relationship with Beijing.

In Honiara, which was rocked by rioting when Sogavare was elected in April, police were on alert in case the decision sparked violence in the capital.

Assistant Commissioner Simpson Pogeava outlined strict controls on public protests, saying such events in the past had been hijacked by "opportunists".

"I want to assure the good citizens of Solomon Islands especially in Honiara that the situation in the capital city is 'business as usual' but police will continue to monitor the situation through visibility patrols in the light of the decision," he said in a statement.

Earlier Report
Why the Solomons is mulling China diplomatic switch
Honiara (AFP) Sept 16, 2019 - China looks poised to gain an ally in the strategic Pacific region this month as a new Solomon Islands leadership sours on decades of "useless" diplomatic ties to Taiwan.

While no final decision has been announced on whether to switch allegiance, Solomons Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare gave a brutal assessment of 36 years of ties to Taipei in what he beleived were confidential remarks to an Australian academic.

"To be honest, when it comes to economics and politics, Taiwan is completely useless to us," Sogavare told the Australian National University's Graeme Smith in an interview aired in a podcast earlier this month.

Sogavare has been under intense pressure since his election in April from parliamentary colleagues who see little benefit in staying with the shrinking band of nations that officially recognise Taipei.

He said China was seen as more likely to provide significant infrastructure funding to the impoverished nation, where less than 50 percent of the population have access to electricity.

"There's this perceived view as well that they (China) are doing great in other countries," he told Smith in July.

"My colleagues... are sitting back and sending signals saying 'let's go, let's go' (with China)."

Sogavare also said that switching to China would give the Solomons greater leverage over traditional regional powers.

He cited Fiji, which shrugged off sanctions imposed by Australia and New Zealand following a 2006 military coup by boosting relations with China.

"They can flex their muscle (and say) 'you behave yourself (or) I have another friend here'," he said.

Sogavare has since said his remarks were meant to be off the record, but they give an insight into the diplomatic chess game playing out between Taiwan and China in the Pacific.

When the Solomons opted to recognise Taiwan in 1983, China was yet to experience the transformation that would turn it into the world's second largest economy.

Beijing has used its financial muscle to poach five diplomatic allies from Taipei since 2016, intent on isolating an island it sees as a rogue province resisting unification.

Taiwan has 17 remaining allies, with the Solomon Islands the largest and most populous of the six located in the Pacific.

- Decision 'very soon' -

Enticing Honiara to switch would be a diplomatic coup for Beijing as it prepares to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China on October 1.

Formal recognition of Beijing is expected to provide a greater boost to investment and development aid than Taiwan is capable of providing.

"Chinese enterprises, as well as the Chinese government, definitely hope to provide assistance in infrastructure, employment and other aspects," Zhao Shaofeng of the Pacific Islands Research Centre at China's Liaocheng University told AFP.

Bonnie Glaser, a Taiwan and China expert at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, said Taipei had played an important role in helping the Solomons develop its agriculture and food security.

But she acknowledged that Taiwan knows it has little chance of being able to outspend China.

"Taipei no longer sees value in checkbook diplomacy. It cannot compete dollar-for-dollar with the PRC anywhere in the world."

Pro-China advocates in Honiara see the swtich as a win-win -- extra aid and development money flowing from China, while existing donors such as Australia and New Zealand would remain.

Fears that ethnic tensions and a chronically corrupt government would turn the Solomons into a failed state prompted a Canberra-led peacekeeping mission from 2003-13.

Even if Honiara transferred allegiances to China, Australia would not consider withdrawing its aid programmes and again risk having such instability on its doorstep.

A series of reviews have been commissioned since Sogavare's election to examine the issue.

A joint taskforce of politicians visited China-aligned countries in the Pacific, ministers travelled to Beijing and a parliamentary committee has been hearing submissions.

Taskforce head John Moffat Fugui said his report had been submitted to the government and would be discussed by the top officials on Tuesday.

He did not reveal what the taskforce had recommended but said the matter would be resolved "very soon".

"I think the prime minister is going to take the decision to the UN General Assembly meeting in New York and he will make the announcement there," he told reporters on Friday.

Related Links
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