Taiwan wins diplomatic scrap with China and opens trade office in Guyana

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Taiwan has established a trade office in the South American country of Guyana, a diplomatic win for the island that has continued to lose allies in an aggressive poaching campaign from China in recent years.

China’s Foreign Ministry responded swiftly, demanding that those concerned “avoid setting up any official institutions with each other, and take practical measures to correct mistakes and eliminate negative impacts.”

“We admonish the DPP authority that any attempt to seek support of foreign forces to engage in secessionist activities around the world will never succeed,” ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters, referring to the initials of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party that rejects Beijing’s demands for political unification.

The Guyana facility will focus on cooperation in areas like agriculture, education and trade, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said in an announcement on Thursday. It does not represent the establishment of formal diplomatic ties.

Guyana said on Thursday that the facility will not lead to full diplomatic relations with Taiwan. “We very highly value our relations with China and will maintain that policy 100 percent,” President Irfaan Ali said.

Taiwan has been the subject of a massive pressure campaign from China that claims the island as part of its territory — to be conquered by military force if necessary — and says it has no right to official exchanges with any foreign governments or multinational organizations such as the United Nations.

Taiwan has just 15 formal diplomatic allies left, after two countries chose to switch diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China in 2019.

Taiwan also has a network of trade offices around the world that act as de facto embassies, in the United States, Japan and most other major nations.

Also last year, Taiwan exchanged representative offices with the breakaway Somali territory of Somaliland to focus on trade and security in the Horn of Africa. China responded by accusing Taiwan of “undermining Somali sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

China has frequently sought to scupper such arrangements in the past and has been using its massive economic resources to win over Taiwan’s remaining allies.

China has refused all direct contacts with Taiwan’s government since the election of independence-leaning DPP President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016. Tsai was reelected last year to a second four-year term.

Despite that, Taiwan enjoys strengthening U.S. support as an unofficial ally. Bipartisan support for the island has grown in recent years under the former Trump administration, including a visit from the highest-level U.S. government delegation since the U.S. switched relations from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

The U.S. applauded Thursday’s move, with both the embassy in Guyana and the de-facto U.S. mission in Taiwan issuing statements of support.

“Deeping ties between Guyana and Taiwan will advance their shared goals of prosperity and security,” said the statement from the U.S. Embassy in Guyana.

“The United States remains committed to supporting Taiwan as it expands its international partnerships and works to address global challenges, including COVID-19,” the American Institute in Taiwan said in its statement.