Taiwan’s ability to donate millions of face masks to the United States and other nations allows the beleaguered island government to use the coronavirus pandemic to resist Chinese pressure, diplomatic sources say.
“It’s kind of mask diplomacy,” an Asian diplomat, who assessed the diplomatic situation on condition of anonymity, told the Washington Examiner. “Taiwan will be better off by creating counter-coronavirus cooperation with the international community, not only with allies but also with other countries as well.”
China is also trying to curry favor internationally by providing medical equipment to the world.
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen pledged this week that the island will distribute 10 million masks to more than two dozen countries around the world. Two million of the masks will go to the U.S., but Tsai will also be a benefactor for 11 European nations, as well as the 15 governments that recognize Taipei as a sovereign government.
“Taiwan will take concrete actions to prove to the international community that the world needs Taiwan and that Taiwan will not be absent,” Taiwanese diplomatic officials said in a bulletin detailing the donations.
That public relations effort comes in the wake of multiple European nations realizing that they had purchased faulty medical equipment from China in recent weeks. Chinese President Xi Jinping has overseen an aggressive effort to convince the relatively small number of countries that recognize Taiwan as an independent country to cut ties and establish relations with Beijing, instead.
The statement by the Taiwanese officials is an unmistakable call for other nations to help Taiwan fend off Beijing’s often successful attempts to isolate Taiwanese officials diplomatically.
“Counter-coronavirus cooperation is a very good chance for Taiwan to recover their lost space, although they could not fully recover, of course,” the Asian diplomat said. “And by expending outreach to other countries with mask diplomacy, I think Taiwan would have allies in a very desirable scenario.”
It comes just days after President Trump signed a law that allows State Department officials, who believe that China regards democratic governments as a threat to their authoritarian regime, to use foreign aid to encourage other countries to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
“Taiwan’s response to COVID-19 is a successful model the rest of the world should learn from,” a State Department spokeswoman told the Washington Examiner. “Taiwan is not just a democratic success story, but a true friend in times of need, for which the American people are deeply grateful. We look forward to further partnering with Taiwan in the global fight against COVID-19.”
Sen. Cory Gardner, who helped orchestrate the face mask donations, went further in suggesting that the medical support might convince some countries to ally with Taiwan instead of the mainland Chinese government.
“We’ve been very engaged on that front on the masks and the extra capacity,” the Colorado Republican told the Washington Examiner during a recent interview. “I’ve also been engaged with Taiwan directly, talking about what more they can be doing to invest in other countries that are standing with Taiwan and could stand with Taiwan.”
Chinese authorities regard the island, which is the last bastion of the government overthrown in the Chinese Communist revolution, as a renegade province that ultimately must be brought under Beijing’s control. When Taiwanese signed a joint statement on coronavirus preparation with the U.S. unofficial embassy in Taipei, Chinese officials denounced the plan as a “despicable” attempt to agitate for independence.
“It is kidnapping the health and well-being of the people of Taiwan and taking the wrong path of ‘worshipping everything foreign’ and engaging in a confrontation with the Motherland,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said.
And yet, the Czech Republic is moving ahead with a counter-coronavirus partnership modeled on the American agreement — clear evidence that the coronavirus pandemic is turning into “an absolute diplomatic gift for the Taiwanese,” according to former Australian Defense Ministry adviser Patrick Buchan.
“Norms that were considered sacrosanct only a month ago no longer apply,” Buchan, who directs the U.S. Alliances Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Washington Examiner. “You’ve got a NATO ally that has just signed a partnership framework with Taiwan. If this happened six months ago, that would be a massive story, and it’s now just completely below the radar.”
