China's latest triumph over Taiwan points to its growing influence in the US's neighborhood

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May 2, 2018 7:51 PM

China gained another victory in its longstanding dispute with Taiwan at the end of April, when the Dominican Republic cut ties with Taipei and recognized Beijing — a move that hints at China's growing clout in the region.

The Dominican Republic said on Monday it was cutting ties with Taiwan and establishing diplomatic relations with China.
That is a victory for China, which views Taiwan as part of its territory and wants to isolate it politically.
The switch also underscores Beijing's growing political influence among the US's neighbors.

The Dominican Republic's decision on Monday to sever ties with Taiwan and establish diplomatic relations with China brings economic benefits for the Caribbean country and further isolation for its former Asian partner.

But it also indicates that China is gaining leverage in the US's backyard in its longstanding dispute with its island neighbor.

Taiwan broke away in 1949, after defeated Nationalist forces fled the mainland. Beijing still considers the island part of its territory, and the two countries have competed for diplomatic recognition around the world.

That competition cooled in the late 2000s, when they entered a kind of detente, under which they "wouldn't poach each other's diplomatic allies," Jorge Guajardo, Mexico's ambassador to China from 2007 to 2013, told Business Insider on Tuesday.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, who took office in 2013, has expressed desire for reunification, and the erosion of that rapprochement quickened with Taiwan's 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who has said she wants peace and to maintain the status quo, though Beijing suspects she wants to push for formal independence.

A cost that Taiwan could not match

Latin America has also become a larger source of natural resources for the voracious Chinese economy, growing its share of China's crude-oil imports from about 2% in 2005 to nearly 13% in 2016.

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