Taiwan welcomes the American team and loses Nauru

Less than 48 hours after winning Saturday's presidential election, Taipei's foreign ministry has been forced to lower another flag, as President-elect Lai Ching-te welcomed a delegation of former senior US officials. Indeed, Nauru no longer appears on Taiwan's short list of official diplomatic partners. It is the tenth small Oceanian country to cut ties with Taipei in the eight years since the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) returned to power with outgoing President Tsai Ing-wen.

The timing could not have been clearer when Honduras took the same step last April, just days before Tsai made a double trip through the United States on her way to Latin America. While Lai talks about strengthening international partnerships, mainland China continues to erode Taipei's official diplomatic space, also showing an implicit sense of strength to Washington. “

On the other hand, However, Taiwan is bringing home more or less cautious statements from the G7 countries and above all an unusual direct greeting from Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., escalating territorial disputes with Beijing in the South China Sea.
Yet you don't feel this atmosphere of international intrigue on the streets of Taipei. There is no sense of having made a decisive choice. Accustomed to being at the center of the conflicting ambitions of the great powers, Taiwanese are instead focused on the possible survival of the Legislative Yuan, a conglomerate parliament that takes office on February 1.

All attention They follow the moves of the third wheel in the presidential election, Go Wen-jae, who, although he won only 8 seats, knew he had many good cards in his hand. This will tip the scales significantly in the years to come. Both traditional parties are trying to woo him to their side. The Kuomintang (GMD) is trying to forge a general agreement on a post-referendum parliamentary coalition, building on its relative majority of 52 seats and demanding the appointment of its “superwarrior” Han Kyo-yu as speaker of parliament.

The DPP, on the other hand, is proposing a primary candidate but is sending signals that it may also accept a name from the TPP to drive a wedge between the two souls of the opposition.

Ko is keeping all his options open. He knows he does not want to be absorbed by the GMD's “militant” opposition, which could take a trenchant tone as the aggressive Han leads parliamentary proceedings. But he also knows that he certainly cannot stand for the DPP and instead hopes to continue to absorb the vote, especially from the younger generation, as he did on Saturday. On the other hand, after the defeat, he himself told his fans that he would “definitely” be president in 2028. More questions about the GMD's future are the risk that it will be unable to capitalize on its success in the assembly polls and the risk that Kowal will strip it of its weight. Already there are those who are calling for a change in internal leadership, the “oldies” still need to be convinced though. For now, in an orderly manner, one of the pit holders is Chiang Wan-an, the mayor of Taipei and the great-grandson of Chiang Kai-shek.
Meanwhile, despite the confidence of the Taiwanese, the machinations of the great powers will continue.

delegation A White House dispatcher (who also met with opposition leaders) expressed public support, but behind closed doors, asked Lai for more guarantees to maintain the status quo. After “conquering” Nauru, Xi Jinping writes in an article to be published in the Communist Party's Theoretical Journal. Kyushi That the hearts of the Taiwanese must be “won”. Waiting for other items in the varied menu of reaction to the survey.