TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Despite losing 10 official diplomatic allies in as many years, Taiwan’s international influence has not suffered any negative impact, Macquarie University political scientist Roger Lee Huang told Australia’s ABC Friday (March 31).

On March 26, Honduras ended 82 years of diplomatic relations with Taiwan to recognize China, leaving Taipei with only 13 official allies. Most of them are small nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

While Taiwan is losing official links to poorer and smaller countries, its unofficial relations with larger nations including the United States and Japan looked better than ever, Huang said.

He added that in recent years, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) had often appeared in overseas media, highlighting Taiwan’s image as a democracy respecting freedom and human rights. Coverage of the country’s politics, economy, and foreign relations by the international media had increased markedly, per CNA.

Nevertheless, Huang said that China should not aim to take away all allies from Taiwan, as this might encourage Taiwan Independence supporters to push for the abandonment of the country’s official name of “Republic of China.” If no allies were left, the independence supporters would say that keeping the old name would be no longer of any use, Huang said.