Chinese Peril

U.S. Recalls Top Diplomats From Latin America as Worries Rise Over China’s Influence

By Edward Wong

Jean Manes, ambassador to El Salvador, is one of three diplomats in Latin America who have been recalled to Washington.

WASHINGTON — The United States has recalled three chiefs of mission from Latin American nations that cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of recognizing China.
The move comes as American officials have expressed growing unease over China’s rising influence in the region.
The diplomats, who represent the United States in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Panama, will meet with leaders in Washington “to discuss ways in which the United States can support strong, independent, democratic institutions throughout Central America and the Caribbean,” a spokeswoman for the State Department, Heather Nauert, said in a written statement on Friday.
For decades, Taiwan and China have competed for recognition. 

In 1979, the United States switched its support and officially established sovereign relations with China, and many other countries followed. 

But Washington has supported any decisions by nations to continue recognizing Taiwan, a self-governing island that China wants to bring under Communist Party rule.
In recent years, China has had success in courting Taiwan’s diplomatic partners. 

Only 17 nations recognize Taiwan; outside the Vatican and Swaziland, they are all islands in the Pacific and the Caribbean or countries in Latin America.
American officials have expressed growing concern over the shift. 

The United States sells arms to Taiwan and maintains a diplomatic presence there, called the American Institute in Taiwan, now housed in a new $250 million compound. 

American officials see Taiwan’s de facto independence as an important hedge against Chinese dominance in the Asia-Pacific region — what the United States now calls the Indo-Pacific as it tries to strengthen ties with South Asian nations to balance against China.
Last month, El Salvador severed ties with Taiwan, prompting the White House to accuse China of “apparent interference” in El Salvador’s domestic politics. 

American officials fear that the four nations in Central America that still recognize Taiwan — Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua — could soon follow. 

Last May, Burkina Faso switched recognition to China, leaving Swaziland as the lone holdout in Africa.
In June 2017, Panama cut ties with Taiwan, which surprised the United States government. 

The American ambassador to Panama at the time, John Feeley, said he learned about the switch from the president, Juan Carlos Varela, only an hour or so before Varela announced it, and only because he had called Varela to discuss an unrelated matter.
Mr. Feeley, who left his post in March and is now a consultant for Univision, said in an interview on Saturday that the recall of top American diplomats was significant.
The diplomats returning to Washington are Robin Bernstein, ambassador to the Dominican Republic; Jean Manes, ambassador to El Salvador; and Roxanne Cabral, the chargé d’affaires in Panama. 

A State Department official said they would return to their posts by Sept. 14.

Wang Yi, center, China’s foreign minister, and Hugo Martinez, right, El Salvador’s foreign minister, at a conference in Santiago, Chile. Last month, El Salvador severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of recognizing China.

The move “is an appropriate and serious signal by the U.S. government to those three countries and to the Chinese government that it is now reviewing the implications of the diplomatic switch and is worried that U.S. interests could be jeopardized,” Mr. Feeley said.
“My sense is that they will be most focused on the issue of industrial and commercial espionage and the possibility of Beijing using its embassies to expand that activity in those countries and the Caribbean Basin,” he added.
China is now the world’s second-largest economy and is expected to overtake the United States as the largest one in 10 to 15 years.
It is difficult for any nation, especially a small one, to decide not to recognize the sovereignty of China.
China and Taiwan have long engaged in what some observers call “checkbook diplomacy” to woo countries by offering aid or other incentives. 

China’s financial packages have increased in recent years, especially as it has promoted infrastructure projects abroad and related loans and contracts as part of what it calls its Belt and Road Initiative.
Jorge Guajardo, a former Mexican ambassador to China, said on Saturday that the recall was “heavy handed.” 

The United States should not be surprised as Latin American governments push back against American requests, he added, when President Trump has continued to alienate the people of Latin America.
“Trump has openly and systematically offended Latin American countries and their people,” Mr. Guajardo wrote in an email. 

“He labels us as rapists and criminals, has never traveled to the region as president, has deported and separated families, and threatened to cut all sort of aid. China comes with an offer of friendship and economic development (albeit one that I don’t think will pan out). Why the surprise?”
The United States has yet to fill some ambassador posts in the region, including those in Mexico and Panama, Mr. Guajardo noted, whereas China has assigned ambassadors in all Latin American nations with which it has diplomatic relations.
“Save a few countries in Latin America, the region as a whole has a historical preference for the U.S. as the main ally,” he said.

“This changed when Trump assumed the presidency. It was his call, his choice, to turn away from the region.”
China has grown more strident over the issue of Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen, a strong critic of Beijing, became president of Taiwan in May 2016. 

Chinese officials have worked to erase any recognition by corporations of Taiwan’s sovereignty. 

For example, they successfully pressured international airlines this summer, including those in the United States, to list just “Taipei,” a city designation, in their booking systems rather than phrases that included “Taiwan,” as was the case for decades.
Last month, Ms. Tsai made state visits to Belize and Paraguay to try to strengthen ties with those nations.

China accused of 'dollar diplomacy' as Taiwan loses second ally in a month

President Tsai accuses China of ‘crude behaviours’ as Burkina Faso ends diplomatic relations with Taipei
AFP in Taipei

Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, accused China of ‘dollar diplomacy’ at a press conference in Taipei on Thursday.

The Taiwanese president, Tsai Ing-wen, has lashed out at China after Burkina Faso broke diplomatic ties with the island, the second country to do so this month.
The move, which has been welcomed by China, came after the Dominican Republic switched recognition to Beijing earlier this month, leaving Taiwan with only 18 diplomatic allies around the world. 

Although it was not immediately clear if Burkina Faso and China would establish diplomatic relations, officials in Taipei said it was only a matter of time and blamed Beijing for the setback.
“China’s crude behaviours to undermine our sovereignty have already challenged the bottom line of Taiwan’s society. We will not tolerate it any more,” President Tsai told reporters without elaborating.
Tsai accused Beijing of using “dollar diplomacy” to lure away the island’s allies.
She added that Beijing’s moves reflected “insecurity and lack of confidence... The more crude their behaviour, the more it sparks international repulsion”.

Relations between Taiwan and China have worsened since Beijing-sceptic Tsai came to power as her government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of “one China”.
China still considers Taiwan to be a renegade province to be reunified, by force if necessary, even though they split in 1949 after a civil war.
The two have been engaged for years in a diplomatic tug-of-war in developing countries. 

Economic support and other aid are often used as bargaining chips for diplomatic recognition.
Taiwan can now claim only one ally in Africa – eSwatini (formerly Swaziland). 

Burkina Faso was the fourth country to cut ties with Taipei since Tsai took office two years ago.
The Dominican Republic announced on 1 May the termination of its 77-year diplomatic relationship with Taiwan to recognise China.
The small African nation of Sao Tome switched recognition to Beijing in late 2016, followed by Panama last June.
Burkina Faso said earlier on Thursday that it was severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan for the second time. 

The country first terminated relations with Taipei in 1973 but restored them in 1994.
“But, today, changes in the world, the current socio-economic challenges facing our country and our region call on us to reconsider our position,” said its foreign minister, Alpha Barry.
The decision prompted Taiwan’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, to tender his resignation on Thursday, pending Tsai’s approval. 

Wu said that Taipei was cutting relations with Burkina Faso “to safeguard our sovereignty and dignity” and halting bilateral aid and cooperation programmes.
According to some reports, last year Beijing allegedly offered $50bn to Burkina Faso to establish relations but the landlocked west African state turned it down.
Tsai dropped a plan to visit the country in April during her first trip to Africa since taking office after its president was unable to receive her, citing scheduling conflicts.
Wu said Taipei already felt “a little unease” at that time.
Tsai’s government is trying to enhance Taiwan’s international profile but faces a concerted attempt by Beijing to shrink its space on global platforms. 

Beijing has stepped up pressure on her government by blocking Taiwan from attending a growing list of international events and staging a string of military drills around the island.

Checkbook Diplomacy

China dangled $3 billion to grab Taiwan ally Dominican Republic

By Jess Macy Yu, Ben Blanchard
A police officer stands next to the Dominican Republic flag (L) inside the Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei, Taiwan, May 1, 2018. 

TAIPEI/BEIJING -- China offered the Dominican Republic a $3.1 billion package of investments and loans to get them to sever ties with Taiwan, a Taiwan official said on Tuesday, after the Caribbean nation switched allegiance to China in a diplomatic blow to the self-ruled island.
China said there were no economic pre-conditions.
Taiwan, claimed by China as its own, has formal relations now with only 19 countries, many of them poor nations in Central America and the Pacific like Belize and Nauru. 

China says Taiwan is simply a wayward province with no right to state-to-state ties.
China and Taiwan have tried to poach each other’s allies over the years, often dangling generous aid packages in front of developing nations, though Taipei struggles to compete with an increasingly powerful China.
Panama ended its long-standing relationship with Taiwan last year in a major diplomatic victory for China. 

The Vatican is next on the list, as the Holy See and China edge closer to an accord on the appointment of bishops in China.
The news on the Dominican Republic switch, announced in both Beijing and Santo Domingo, drew strong and swift condemnation from Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.
“President Danilo Medina of the Dominican Republic has ignored our long-term partnership, the wishes of the people of the Dominican Republic, and the years of development assistance provided by Taiwan, to accept false promises of investment and aid by China,” Wu told reporters.
“(Taiwan) strongly condemns China’s objectionable decision to use dollar diplomacy to convert Taiwan’s diplomatic allies. Beijing’s attempts at foreign policy have only served to drive a wedge between the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, erode mutual trust and further harm the feelings of the people of Taiwan.”
A Taiwan Foreign Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters that, according to initial calculations, China dangled at least a $3.1 billion package of investments, financial assistance and low-interest loans for the Dominican Republic, which shares an island with Haiti to the west.
That included $400 million for a new freeway, $1.6 billion for infrastructure projects and $300 million for a new natural gas power plant.
“It was a cost that Taiwan could not match,” the official said.
China’s Foreign Ministry said the move was a political one with no economic pre-conditions, but that now they have established ties, China will “proactively promote mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas”.
A person who answered the telephone at the Dominican Republic’s Beijing representative office said it did not know about the situation and declined further comment.
China has stepped up the pressure on Taiwan since the 2016 election of Tsai Ing-wen, from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, as president. 

Beijing fears she will push for Taiwan’s formal independence, but Tsai says she wants to maintain the status quo.
The Dominican Republic had been a diplomatic ally of the Republic of China -- Taiwan’s official name -- for 77 years, including when the government ruled all of China before being forced to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war to the Communists.
Taiwan’s presidential office said that despite the severe challenges, the government would not bow its head in pressure to Beijing, and vowed to do all it could to protect Taiwan’s interests.
The Taiwan official said the Dominican Republic move was not unexpected.
“We’ve always known things were not looking rosy here,” the official said.

The Chinese government’s top diplomat, State Councillor Wang Yi, lauded the decision as in line with the trend of the times and history, in comments to reporters in Beijing at a hastily arranged news conference.
“This important and correct decision by the Dominican Republic absolutely accords with the basic interests of the country and its people,” Wang said. 

“We highly appreciate this.”
The Dominican Republic said it had taken the decision after a long process of consultation, taking its needs and potential into account, according to a statement on the president’s website.
It said that even without formal diplomatic ties, China was already its second largest supplier of imported products.
“Of course we know that now we’re establishing diplomatic relations, the growth potential of our trade links is immense,” presidential legal adviser Flavio Dario Espinal said.
Espinal said that the government was grateful to Taiwan.
“We are deeply grateful for the cooperation we’ve shared for years,” he said. 

“However, history and the socioeconomic reality force us now to change direction.”
In Taipei, Wu said China had failed to follow through on its promises to former Taiwan diplomatic allies, including $140 million in aid to the small West African country of Sao Tome and Principe in late 2016.
“Developing nations should be aware of the danger of falling into a debt trap when engaging with China,” he said.
Neither Wang, nor Dominican Republic Foreign Minister Miguel Vargas Maldonado, who stood by his side at the Beijing news conference, took questions from reporters.
Speaking in March, Wang said it was in the best interests of Taiwan’s few remaining diplomatic allies to recognize an “irresistible trend” and ditch Taipei in favor “one China” ruled by Beijing.

Axis of Evil: Russia and China Are Bulking Up in the U.S.’s Backyard

Putin and Xi are working to win over small, poor countries with promises of aid, military support, and investment, even as Trump scales back.
By Ezra Fieser

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (center) inspects a Cuban tank division during a 2015 visit to Havana. 

As supplies of crude from its old ally Venezuela dwindled last year, Cuba began turning out the lights in government offices and shuttering oil refineries. 

Then, Havana turned to an old friend for help: Russia. 

In early May the Kremlin sent a tanker full of fuel across the Atlantic as part of a deal to keep the communist island running for three months. 

It was the first such shipment Cuba had received in years from its former benefactor, but it wasn’t the only sign Russia has returned to a region it had all but abandoned after the Cold War. 

Moscow is building a satellite-tracking station in Managua and considering reopening Soviet-era military bases in the region, as well as expanding economic ties and doling out aid in countries across Central America and the Caribbean. 

Vladimir Putin has even offered to restore the Capitol building in Havana, which bears a striking resemblance to the one in Washington.
“This could purely be a way of the Russians telling the gringos, ‘Be careful, we can come back to your backyard,’ ” says Jorge Piñon, director of the Latin America and Caribbean Energy Program at the University of Texas at Austin, who estimates Russia’s fuel shipments to Cuba are worth more than $100 million. 

“Or it’s a long-term strategic commitment, and this is the first building block of a considerable investment in the region.”
China also has been building up its presence in the Caribbean Basin. 

Chinese companies and the government have poured $6 billion into the area since 2012, according to a tally of large investments by the American Enterprise Institute. 

Beijing’s interest isn’t just economic: It wants to persuade the Dominican Republic and 10 other countries in the region to sever their diplomatic ties with Taiwan as it seeks to curtail its rival’s role on the international stage. 

The People’s Republic of China considers Taiwan part of its territory under its One China policy. 

For years, Beijing and Taiwan competed for diplomatic allegiances promising low-cost loans and outright aid. 

But in 2007, when Costa Rica switched from Taiwan to Beijing, the two governments entered a détente. 

That may have changed with the election of Taiwan’s pro-independence leader Tsai Ing-wen, whom Donald Trump telephoned after the November election. 

After the phone call, Beijing convinced the tiny African island nation São Tomé and Príncipe to cut ties with Taiwan. 

Tsai quickly arranged a trip to Central America in January, visiting three countries to shore up relations.
A top diplomat from one Caribbean country, who spoke on condition of anonymity, expects several countries to switch allegiances over the next year or two, as more Chinese money flows in: “You’ll see these countries leave Taiwan in bunches.”
Even before Trump signaled the U.S. would scale back its global role under his “America First” policy, China and Russia were using their size and resources to win over small, mostly poor countries with promises of aid, military support, and investments in everything from cricket stadiums to a proposed canal stretching across Nicaragua. 

“Both Russia and China recognize the region’s geopolitical importance due to its proximity to the U.S.,” says Evan Ellis, professor of Latin American Studies at the U.S. Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute in Carlisle, Pa. 

“The difference is that while China wants to build an economic presence to position itself softly, the Russians are the opposite; they want to use their presence to provoke.”
In a bygone era, such incursions might have drawn a quick, even hostile, U.S. response. 

Yet since the end of the Cold War, Washington has largely turned its focus away from hemispheric affairs, creating an opening for China and Russia, says Richard Feinberg, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington. 

“If you take China, for example, they see a disorganized, inward-looking United States and they see themselves as, comparatively speaking, well-organized and able to establish a long-term vision for the region through gradually building influence,” he says. 

“And I can easily see how enticing it is for Putin to establish Russia as a regional power. He’d welcome the opportunity to do more in the Caribbean.”
Nikolay Smirnov, Russia’s Guyana-based ambassador to the southern Caribbean, balks at the notion that Russia is trying to provoke the U.S. 

Instead, he emphasizes the potential for greater cooperation between Russia and countries in the region on issues like climate change, trade, and fighting drug trafficking. 

“In the foreign policy of modern Russia, there exist opportunities for all countries, small or large, to participate in economic as well as political partnerships,” says Smirnov. 

“Our position is not to intrude into anyone else’s relations or to compete with others’ interests.”
The U.S. remains the dominant economic force in Central America and the Caribbean, with about $80 billion in two-way trade last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures. 

It is also the region’s single-largest source of foreign direct investment, which totaled $18 billion in 2015, according to the U.N.’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. 

However, Trump’s proposed budget envisions a near 40 percent reduction in aid to Central American countries, according to an analysis by the Washington Office on Latin America, an advocacy organization.
Russia, meanwhile, has been doling out aid to small Caribbean islands and forgiven $32 billion in Cuban debt. 

Chinese capital has flowed into hotel projects in Barbados and power plants in Haiti. 

In Jamaica, where a $730 million toll road nicknamed the “Beijing Highway” opened last year, Chinese-financed infrastructure projects are seen as key to pulling the country out of a decade-long economic slump, says Anelia Nelson, an officer at Jamaica Promotions Corp., a quasi-­government agency.
In April, U.S. Navy Admiral Kurt Tidd, head of Southern Command, told Congress that he was concerned about China’s exercise of soft power in the region as well as the growing involvement of Russia’s military. 

“Even seemingly benign activities can be used to build malign influence,” he said.
Take Nicaragua, whose President Daniel Ortega refers to Putin as his “hermano.” 

Since the two countries agreed to expand military ties two years ago, Russia has docked its warships in Nicaraguan ports and supplied the Central American country with tanks, aircraft, and weapons. 

It’s now putting the finishing touches on a station to track GPS satellites. 

Its location, near the U.S. embassy, has raised suspicions that it might also be used to spy on the U.S. and its partners.
Despite Trump’s seemingly cozy relationship with Putin, the new administration is pushing back. 

The spending bill the president signed in early May bans some U.S. funding to countries, including Nicaragua, that recognize South Ossetia and Abkhazia, the self-proclaimed independent states that fought alongside Russia against neighboring Georgia in 2008. 

Separately, Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is a co-sponsor of a bill called the Nicaraguan Investment Conditionality Act that requires countries seeking loans from international financial institutions first hold free and fair elections and promote democracy.