The importance of diplomatic representation when living in Taiwan

Taiwan is one of those countries that is not really able to have proper diplomatic representation with many countries.

Unfortunately, due to the insistence by China that Taiwan belongs to them and that it will one day become part of China again, China will not accept other countries establishing an Embassy in both Taiwan and China. Therefore since the majority of countries understand that a relationship with China is far more important than with Taiwan, they can only open so-called Trade Offices in Taiwan and citizens of those countries do not really get proper diplomatic representation. Relationships can be in trade and education and cultural but not officially diplomatic.

That's really a pity especially since many Taiwanese consider their country to be independent. There are, however, some Taiwanese who would like to see Taiwan rejoin f China. This is a little sad because in 1997 when then Governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patton, handed Hong Kong back to China, we have seen that China has not fulfilled the 50 years of no change and democracy that it promised. Based on recent actions of the China government, I can only guess that China would be the same with Taiwan. That's a very worrying thought.

Does any nation have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan?

Hi Khalida,

As of 2020 I believe there are about 17 countries that still recognize Taiwan and have formal diplomatic ties with them. These are mostly small less important countries in Central and South America and the Caribbean and a few others such as the Vatican. And that number is decreasing year by year as China offers offers more and more loans and investments in those countries still recognizing Taiwan as incentives to make them break ties with Taiwan.

However, many countries that do not formally recognize Taiwan still have trade offices or other forms of representation there and continue to do business. Over the past 20 or 30 years, it was widely understood that Taiwan products were always more technical and of a better quality than those made in China. When I lived in Hong Kong the company I initially worked for was a joint venture between Novel Enterprises and China National Import Export Corporation. Even though our holding company had the first Volkswagen car factory in China, steel manufacturing plants, a joint venture with Toshiba for colour TV tubes and many other ventures, our division marketed Taiwan made manufacturing plants and turn-key projects to developing countries. Back then, China was still importing it's technology and Taiwan was considered to be producing much a higher quality.

Also, when I ran my company also in Hong Kong back in the 1990's, although most of our manufacturing was made in China, we also worked with companies in China for clothing production for brands such as C&A Germany who were already one of our clients in Hong Kong & China. So Taiwan is a very important manufacturer. Machine tools, CDC machines and computer hardware are made here although in some cases they are made in Taiwanese owned factories in China to ensure quality. Famous Oolong tea is also made in Taiwan. You only have to visit some of the old shop houses in downtown Taipei to see old shops packed with a huge variety of teas.

It is interesting that no Asian nation recognizes Taiwan.

Any Asian country that recognizes Taiwan would probably have their diplomatic ties with China ended. They would also suffer in future trade with China and probably with tourism too. China tourists are a huge source of income for any country in Asia. It all comes down to whether China or Taiwan is more important for your country and in almost every situation China wins hands down. I think most Asian countries are scared of getting on the bad side of China.