These are the 12 friends Taiwan has left in the whole world

By Bloomberg News

(Bloomberg) — Taiwan has lost another diplomatic ally, with the 12 friends it has left accounting for just 0.17% of the global economy and less than 0.5% of the world’s population.

The government of Nauru, a Pacific Island of 13,000 people, on Monday became the latest to cut ties with the democratically-ruled island in favour of China. Taiwan’s diminishing diplomatic clout means it has fewer friends that can take up issues on its behalf in international forums like the United Nations, where it lacks a seat.

Taiwan’s most economically powerful diplomatic partner is Guatemala, which had Central America’s largest GDP at $95 billion in 2022, according to the World Bank. That’s a drop in the ocean compared to China, whose economy amounted to $17.96 trillion that year.

The last nation to switch diplomatic relations to Beijing from Taipei was Honduras in 2023. Before that, Nicaragua jumped ship in 2021 and the Pacific Island of Kiribati did so in 2019.

Here are Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners and their GDPs in 2022:

China has been peeling off Taipei’s allies for years as it ramps up military, economic and diplomatic pressure on the island it considers a breakaway territory. Taiwan elected the Democratic Progressive Party’s Lai Ching-te as its next leader on Saturday, in a show of democratic freedoms that defied Beijing’s warnings.

The US said Nauru’s decision was disappointing and praised Taiwan as a “reliable, likeminded and democratic partner.” Despite its close ties to the island, including billions of dollars in arms sales, the US switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

Beijing and Taipei have competed for diplomatic recognition since 1949, when Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek’s flight to Taiwan established a stalemate, with each side claiming to be the legitimate ruler of China.

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.