Taiwan’s former vice president, Chen Chien-jen, a Catholic, who became the country’s new prime minister at the end of January, can do a lot. But his term in office will be short as the East Asian nation goes to presidential and parliamentary polls next year.
Beneath all the harsh words and military manoeuvrings, Taiwan enjoys robust ties with China, which wants to annex it, and the US, which will come to its aid in case of an attack by the communist nation.
China, which lays claim to Taiwan as its renegade province, takes in 37 percent of all Taiwanese exports, which rose by 14.2% last year. China also provides 20 percent of Taiwan’s imports, which increased by 9.5 % in 2022.
As neighbours, they face a raft of mutual risks from the depletion of marine stocks to global supply chain challenges. So, they cooperate one way or the other.
But still, Chen has to worry because there are enough strategic reasons why China won’t consider Taiwanese independence from the mainland.
Though the appellation “Taiwan” appears in brackets after the Republic of China, (the official name of Taiwan) and only 14 nations, including the Vatican, have diplomatic ties with it, Taiwan proudly occupies the United States’ eighth-largest trading partner position among the nearly 200 nations in the world.
“Chen will have to lift the fortunes of the party before presidential and parliamentary polls next year”
Though about 267 times smaller than China in size, Taiwan’s trade ties with the US are constantly strengthening.
A devout Catholic, Chen, who attended Pope Benedict’s funeral at the Vatican as the president’s envoy, took up the new assignment as part of a reshuffle by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) after it suffered heavy losses during local elections four months ago.