Is Taiwan’s support really ebbing away?

Taiwan has lost another friend. Or at least it soon will, according to the president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro. She says her country will formally withdraw its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, in favour of recognising China. If this happens, it will leave only 13 countries (and the Holy See) who recognise Taiwan as independent and sovereign. 

Support for Taiwan appears to be dwindling – just as the Chinese Communist Party would wish. But there is a slight wrinkle here. This toing and froing about diplomatic recognition emerges not from ordinary diplomacy, but instead one of the absurder aspects of international politics. Recognising either China or Taiwan is an old problem, one springing from the ‘one China policy’ of the last Cold War. 

In that period, both the Beijing and Taipei governments claimed sovereignty and legitimacy over all of China and Taiwan. The Republic of China (Taiwan’s formal name) held the UN seat and security council place, which is currently occupied by the People’s Republic, until 1971.