Taiwan Says China May Have Made Financial Offers to Isolate Taipei
In Taiwan, National Security Council adviser Alex Huang said that allegedly leaked Chinese diplomatic documents may indicate that Beijing made financial offers to other states in exchange for supporting the exclusion of Taiwan from the World Health Assembly. As the Taipei Times reports, Huang said the documents largely match Taiwanese intelligence data in terms of the positions of those involved, the account of events and the time frames.
Grant for Micronesia
According to the allegedly leaked documents, China’s embassy in Micronesia asked the island state in March to sign a letter supporting Beijing’s position on Taiwan at the World Health Assembly. On April 8, Micronesia allegedly asked WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus not to discuss Taiwan-related issues.
In May, the assembly rejected Taiwan’s proposal. According to the documents, on June 10 China sent Micronesia a grant of 1 million yuan, or about US$149,000, allegedly to purchase a vehicle for official receptions. On June 23, Micronesia replied that it accepted the funding.
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Funding for the African Union
Another part of the allegedly leaked documents, Huang said, concerns the African Union. According to them, in April the organization accepted 200 million yuan from China as a reconstruction grant and later requested another US$50 million to build a new headquarters and recreation center.
Huang also drew attention to the cancellation of a trip by Taiwan’s President William Lai to Eswatini, a diplomatic ally of Taiwan, that had been planned for April 22. The visit did not take place after three African Union member states along the planned route revoked permission for the president’s chartered aircraft to overfly their territory. On the same day, Huang said, the African Union asked China for a new round of funding.
In the adviser’s assessment, the arrangements concerning the letter to the WHO appeared as though they could be assigned a price: the number of signatories roughly corresponded to the amount of spending required. He also said that China is constantly applying new methods of pressure on Taiwan, but Beijing’s resources for a prolonged campaign of “checkbook diplomacy” are not unlimited.
