Taiwan blasts China’s “Behaviour” as ally El Salvador switches sides

TIL Desk/World/Taipei/Beijing/Taiwan vowed on Tuesday to fight China’s “increasingly out of control” behaviour after Taipei lost another ally to Beijing when El Salvador became the third country to switch allegiances to China this year. Taiwan now has formal relations with just 17 countries worldwide, many of them smaller, less developed nations in Central America and the Pacific like Belize and Nauru.

Speaking in Taipei, President Tsai Ing-wen said Taiwan will not bow to pressure, describing the El Salvador move as further evidence of China’s efforts to squeeze the island, which have included regular Chinese bomber patrols around Taiwan. “We will turn to countries with similar values to fight together against China’s increasingly out-of-control international behaviour,” Tsai said.

Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told reporters earlier that Taipei was not willing to engage in “money competition” with its giant neighbour. He said El Salvador had been continuously asking for “massive funding support” since last year for a port development, but Taiwan was unable to assist with the “unsuitable project” after assessment.  “Pressure from China would only make Taiwan more determined to continue our path of democracy and freedom,” he said.