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our special correspondent chen lifei

after being forced to withdraw from the central american parliament last year, the dpp authorities are now beginning to lose their position in the pacific islands forum (pif). the solomon islands will push for the cancellation of taiwan's observer status in the pif.

according to taiwan's china times on august 27, the 53rd pacific islands forum leaders' meeting opened in nuku'alofa, the capital of tonga, on the 26th, and the meeting will last until the 30th. australian media the australian reported that australian prime minister albanese attended the pif meeting on the 27th, and leaders of various regions are expected to support the so-called "pacific policing initiative" proposed by australia at the meeting. the solomon islands said it will propose a motion this week to challenge taiwan's eligibility to participate in the pif. a senior diplomat from a pacific island country said that the solomon islands will prevent taiwan from participating in the pif meeting to be held in the country's capital honiara in 2025. he said: "china is lobbying all member states for this. i would not be surprised if this comes true."

the pacific islands forum is an international organization attended by pacific countries (regions, organizations). the secretariat is located in suva, the capital of fiji. it consists of 18 member states and has seats for associate members and special observers. the organization was established in august 1971, then known as the "south pacific forum", and was renamed in october 2000. taiwan has participated in pif-related mechanisms and activities as a "development partner" since 1993. regarding the possibility of being revoked of its observer status, taiwan's "ministry of foreign affairs" deputy spokesman xiao guangwei said on the 26th that taiwan has "made a lot of contributions since joining the pif, and deeply regrets that certain countries have tried to divide the unity of the pacific region."

taiwan's china times recalled on the 27th that when tsai ing-wen came to power in 2016, there were 22 "diplomatic allies", and tsai lost 10 during her term. the worst were the seven "diplomatic allies" on the central american isthmus, from guatemala in the north to panama in the south. since costa rica "broke off diplomatic relations" with the taiwan authorities in 2007, other countries have followed suit. currently, only guatemala and belize have "established diplomatic relations" with taiwan. "and the loss of diplomatic allies will inevitably impact the international status." for example, after nicaragua "broke off diplomatic relations" with taiwan, it led and proposed the "exclusion of taiwan, nicaragua and mainland china" case in the central american parliament in august last year, and the democratic progressive party authorities were forced to announce their withdrawal. since july this year, nicaragua has served as the interim chair of the central american integration system (july to december 2024), and is preparing to propose "exclusion of taiwan, nicaragua and mainland china" again to allow beijing to replace taipei's observer status in the organization. now that the solomon islands has "severed diplomatic ties" with taiwan, it will also propose at the pacific islands forum to cancel taipei's observer status. "once the number of 'diplomatic allies' returns to zero, there will be no 'diplomatic allies' to propose or 'speak up' for taiwan at the united nations general assembly and other occasions. the so-called zero 'diplomatic relations' does not matter, and it completely disregards the facts." the article also mentioned that the relevant bill passed by the united states to protect taiwan's "diplomatic allies" came into effect in 2020, but taiwan's "diplomatic severance wave" did not stop afterwards. on the contrary, it was excluded from international organizations one after another with the "severance of diplomatic relations." this is because no matter how much europe and the united states support taiwan, there is currently no possibility that they will "establish diplomatic relations" with the taiwan authorities. in international organizations, resolutions are all based on the number of people. "the united states can hardly compete with the mainland supported by the vast majority of developing countries. the united states cannot even win the united nations resolutions on the israeli-palestinian conflict, let alone resolutions involving taiwan."

li zhengxiu, a scholar on the island, once wrote in taiwan's "china daily" that the ma ying-jeou administration was able to preserve taiwan's "diplomatic relations" through a "diplomatic truce" across the taiwan strait, so why can't the dpp administration do it? during tsai ing-wen's administration, the island's foreign affairs budget increased year by year, especially the confidential budget. but instead of seeing the results of maintaining "diplomatic allies", the public can only watch the dpp use foreign relations as a "chess piece" to confront the mainland and push all problems to the other side. although the united states is still the world's number one power, it is an indisputable fact that its influence on central and south america is declining year by year, and the dpp cannot deceive itself. the article believes that as cross-strait relations deteriorate, taiwan's foreign affairs dilemma will be more difficult to resolve. in fact, handling taiwan strait affairs with the positioning of the two sides of the strait is not to "dwarf" oneself or fall into the mainland's "one china trap". on the contrary, this will not only enhance mutual trust, but also resolve the risk of armed conflict.