TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s diplomatic allies are strategically important, Johnson Chiang (姜森), Taiwan’s deputy representative to the US, said on Monday.

“They have a great contribution to the stability of the Taiwan Strait,” Chiang said during an Atlantic Council virtual event. The majority of them are in the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Indo-Pacific, primarily the South Pacific, which are regions the US places great importance on, he said.

The deputy representative pointed out that several of the Trump administration’s recent policy initiatives focus on the Western Hemisphere, while the National Security Strategy report includes the Indo-Pacific. Therefore, Taiwan and the US have “overlapping national interests,” Chiang said.

To maintain these diplomatic ties, Taiwan is developing “more innovative ways” to counter Chinese influence operations. Chiang criticized the tools China used to entice countries to sever relations with Taiwan, including the Belt and Road Initiative. He called Beijing’s strategy a “predatory approach” that grabs resources and injects Chinese companies there while hiring Chinese workers instead of locals.

The diplomat noted that countries that switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing, such as Honduras and Nicaragua, ended up with larger trade deficits.

“Those kinds of issues really inspire us to think about how to work with like-minded countries, including the US, to provide a better approach to support those (diplomatic allies),” Chiang said. Taiwan focuses on sustainable ways to empower locals, and projects are designed to be accessible and commercially viable, he added.

Chiang said that Taiwan’s diplomatic allies are not looking for handouts. “I think they want opportunities,” he said. “They want to see more cooperation with Taiwan, the US, and like-minded countries as they choose to stand with democracies.”