TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Democracies are undermining Taiwan's sovereignty by giving in to Beijing’s demands, Taipei-based journalist Chris Horton said in a Nikkei Asia opinion article.
Horton said that governments and institutions of democratic countries that claim to embrace the same values as the Taiwanese are pushing Taiwan by the wayside “to placate a Chinese Communist Party that seeks to subsume Taiwan's sovereign democracy,” per Nikkei Asia.
He cited separate rows between Taiwan and South Korea, Denmark, and Brazil. South Korea's new e-arrival system designated Taiwan as "Taiwan (China)" earlier this year, but it was later revised after Taiwan threatened to downgrade South Korea's name to “Korea (South)” in its e-arrival system.
Denmark has listed Taiwanese residents as hailing from China on their ID cards since 2024. Meanwhile, two Brazilian diplomats in Taipei were criticized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after claiming that Taiwan is part of China in local media, Horton said.
Horton argued that Taiwan meets all four conditions for statehood listed in the 1934 Montevideo Convention: a permanent population, a defined territory, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other states. It is also diplomatically recognized by 11 other countries and the Vatican.
Horton added that Taiwan's sovereignty is also being damaged by the international media, which avoids referring to Taiwan as a country. Instead, they refer to it as "the self-ruled island" or "the island democracy." Readers unfamiliar with Taiwan may begin to view it as a Chinese territory with its own separate system, like Hong Kong or Macau, Horton said.
Horton said the Chinese Communist Party’s campaign to persuade the world that Taiwan is a part of China “is one of the biggest propaganda campaigns in all of human history.” However, despite all its power, Beijing “cannot marginalize Taiwan alone — it requires our help to do it,” he said, according to Nikkei Asia.
The journalist noted that some countries are taking concrete action to support Taiwan. Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae has been especially vocal in backing Taiwan, stating in November that a Chinese attack on the country would be a "survival-threatening situation."
Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. removed self-imposed restrictions on unofficial meetings between Filipino and Taiwanese government and military officials last April. This “has quietly brought the two closer together in the face of the threat posed by their giant expansionist neighbor,” Horton said.
When Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) delivered a speech in November at the European parliament she became the highest-ranking Taiwanese official ever to speak there, Horton said.
Global democracies must ultimately decide between aligning with China or the Taiwanese who “seek to contribute to a free world,” Horton said.
