Taipei, Taiwan Last month, hundreds of foreign delegations descended on Taipei to watch Lai Ching-te be sworn in as Taiwan’s fifth president.
Beijing, which claims the democratic island as its own, has denounced Lai as a “separatist” and a “troublemaker” but 508 foreign delegates still attended the ceremony, with front-row seats to the colourful parades and flyovers.
But while there were attendees from countries such as Japan, Britain and the United States, only a few were actually heads of state or senior government officials.
Attendees came from Taiwan’s remaining 12 formal diplomatic allies, including the King of Eswatini, the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, and the President of Paraguay. Their national flags flew alongside the Taiwanese flag at the inauguration ceremony venue, and each leader received special applause throughout the ceremony.
The day before the inauguration, President-elect Lai and Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-chin also took foreign leaders shrimp fishing.
“The Taiwanese government attaches great importance to its diplomatic allies,” Chen Fang-yu, an assistant professor of political science at Soochow University in Taipei, told Al Jazeera.
Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan, which then had 22 formal diplomatic allies, since Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) came to power in 2016. Beijing has rejected all overtures for talks and stepped up efforts to woo Taiwan’s then 22 diplomatic allies.
Similar moves followed Lai’s victory in January, with the Pacific island nation of Nauru changing its position just days later and the Chinese government criticising countries such as the Philippines that congratulated Lai on his victory.
Amid continued pressure from China, Taiwan has sought to maintain ties with its formal allies by highlighting shared values and the principles of freedom, democracy and respect for human rights, but Brian Hioe, a political commentator and founder of the Taiwan-focused magazine New Bloom, says the reality is more complicated.
“This is a geopolitical issue,” Hioe told Al Jazeera.
Geopolitical influences
This geopolitical situation was on full display last April when President Tsai Ing-wen stopped in the United States on her way to or from Central America, where she visited diplomatic allies Belize and Guatemala.
During her time in the US, she met with several US government officials, including then-Speaker of the House of Representatives Kevin McCarthy.
A few months later, Lai, who was then vice president, stopped in the United States during a trip to Paraguay in South America and met with U.S. officials.
While the United States maintains formal ties with China, it is Taiwan’s most important political and military partner and is required by law to provide the means for Taiwan to defend itself, maintaining a policy known as “strategic ambiguity.”
Meetings between Taiwanese and U.S. officials have often drawn anger in Beijing, which has refrained from using force to subjugate Taiwan.
In 1995, when then-Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui paid an official visit to Cornell University in the United States to give a speech, Beijing responded by firing missiles into the waters around Taiwan, in what became known as the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis.
A similar situation occurred when then-U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022, and Beijing responded by launching unprecedented military exercises across and around Taiwan.
According to Chen, “transit diplomacy” is an important and sensitive way for Taiwan to maintain relations with the United States without provoking a strong reaction from China.
“That’s part of the reason why Taiwan’s diplomatic allies are so important, despite their small size both economically and demographically,” he said.
Another reason is that these countries have a strong voice in various international forums.
In 1971, Taiwan’s status in the United Nations was transferred to the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and in the following years Taiwan also lost membership in other international organizations to Beijing.
“But Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have seats in these organizations, can speak on Taiwan’s behalf and propose resolutions in support of Taiwan,” Chen said.
For example, at the opening ceremony of the World Health Assembly (WHA) under the United Nations’ World Health Organization, held in Switzerland in May, several formal allies insisted on Taiwan’s participation.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory but Taiwanese leaders often refer to it as the Republic of China (Taiwan’s official name) and stress that it exists as a separate territory from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which was founded at the end of the country’s civil war in 1949.
New Bloom’s Hioe says the island’s formal allies are helping to push that narrative.
“Part of the definition of a state is diplomatic recognition by other countries,” he said. “So as long as Taiwan has diplomatic allies, it can meet the definition of a state to some extent.”
Pragmatism over ideology
According to Hioe, such a pragmatic approach can result in the absence of so-called shared values, such as human rights.
Taiwan has had formal diplomatic relations with Haiti since 1956.
The Caribbean nation of Bolivia has been riven by gang violence and internal unrest, and its human rights situation has deteriorated sharply since the 2021 assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, according to a U.N. report in March.
“For all the talk about diplomatic allies, little attention is paid to the domestic human rights situation in many of these countries,” Hioe said.
Taiwan condemned Moise’s killing as “cruel and barbaric” but its foreign ministry said its main focus was on the safety of its diplomats. After the assassination, a group of armed men stormed the Taiwanese embassy.
A Taiwanese diplomat expressed confidence in March that diplomatic ties between Haiti and Taiwan would remain stable, “given the friendly relations between the Taiwan Embassy and Haitian political organizations.”
Taipei similarly prioritizes stable relations with Eswatini, its only official partner in Africa, and provides the country with significant foreign aid despite human rights violations and the lack of legitimate democratic institutions.
Eswatini is one of the last absolute monarchies on the African continent.
The government cracked down on pro-democracy protesters in 2021, leaving 46 people dead.
Last year, a prominent opposition politician and human rights lawyer was killed by unidentified gunmen in his home.
His widow later said Taiwan’s aid was supporting a dictator and that “if Taiwan advocates democracy and supports and values the rule of law, Taiwan will support the people of Swaziland,” as the country was known officially until 2018.
Following her criticism, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement saying bilateral cooperation with the government and people of Eswatini would continue.
Yao-Yuan Ye, an associate professor of Chinese studies at the University of St. Thomas in the United States, said Taipei was aware of democratic deficiencies in some of its diplomatic allies.
“But Taiwan’s relationships with its allies are defined more by pragmatism than ideology,” he told Al Jazeera. “The idea is that Taiwan has only a few allies left and cannot afford to drive away any of them and risk losing them to China.”
“Dollar Diplomacy”
But the DPP’s pragmatic approach has so far not prevented countries from changing their positions.
Sao Tome and Principe was the first country to declare its loyalty to Beijing after the election of President Tsai Ing-wen in 2016.
As the years passed, more and more moved to Beijing, and then in January, just days after Lai won the election, it was his turn to move to Nauru.
Asked about the decision at a regular press conference, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning referred to the “one China principle”.
“There is only one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing the whole of China,” she said.
Analysts speak in more mundane terms.
“It’s money,” Yeh said. “The price has to be right.”
Taiwan calls this “dollar diplomacy”, a charge Beijing denies.
Last year, the Honduran government reportedly asked Taiwan for $2.5 billion in aid.
According to then-Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, the Honduran government was comparing the aid programs offered by Taipei and Beijing at the time. Taipei rejected the aid request, and a few weeks later, the Honduran government switched diplomatic ties to Beijing.
“China is much bigger than Taiwan, and Taiwan cannot write a blank cheque to the country like China can,” Ye said.
Pressure is likely to continue as Lai plans to continue his predecessor’s policies and both key members of the DPP say the people of Taiwan should decide their own future.
“Poaching diplomatic allies was a way for China to punish the Taiwanese government for following policies it opposes,” said Chen, the assistant professor.
