China persuades Panama to break diplomatic ties with Taiwan

THAT there is only one China, and that Taiwan is merely a renegade province of it, has long been the official doctrine of China’s Communist Party. It follows that no country can have diplomatic ties with both China and Taiwan, and that those which recognise Taiwan must be made to switch allegiances. This diplomatic warfare was suspended from 2008 to 2016, when Ma Ying-jeou was president of Taiwan, since he vaguely affirmed the idea that the two sides might eventually become one. But Tsai Ing-wen, his successor, has refused to do so. As a result China has ended the truce. This week saw the biggest skirmish yet, as Panama broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

In December the tiny African state of São Tomé & Príncipe defected to the Chinese camp. Last month rowdy Chinese delegates forced Taiwan’s representatives out of a meeting about conflict diamonds in Australia. Earlier this year Taiwan failed to secure an invitation to the World Health Assembly, a big UN powwow, for the first time in eight years.