Another Diplomatic Crisis…

Taiwan is going through another diplomatic crisis right now. After Taiwan has re-established formal diplomatic ties with St Lucia last month, today Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias has announced that Costa Rica has broken diplomatic ties with Taiwan after 60 years and formed relations at ambassadorial level with China as of June 1. It has been rumored for a long time that Costa Rica has got cozy with the PRC. Last month, we were also surprised when Costa Rica voted against Taiwan's bid for full membership of the WHO. Costa Rica's switch leaves Taiwan with just 24 allies in the international community, compared to the PRC's 170.

Ironically, at the press meeting, the Costa Rican president thanked Taiwan for its "solidarity and co-operation." Nevertheless, he also said that he had made the decision based upon all the Costa Ricans' interests, since Costa Rica views China as the most powerful emerging economy in the world and aims to strengthen the bilateral commercial ties for attracting more investments.

It is a warning that China has been actively seeking opportunities to form diplomatic ties with Latin American states during the last few years. According to analysts, Costa Rica's shift in allegiance to the PRC would probably prompt other Latin American nations like Panama and Nicaragua to follow.

In any case, we still need to give Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs our support. After all, the number of our "formal" international allies shouldn't be used as the only way to evaluate or examine the MOFA's efforts. In my view, expanding Taiwan's diplomatic space in a more flexible manner and promote various cooperations with the countries with which Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic relations would create more positive impacts on Taiwan's diplomatic work in the future.