What's behind the resumption of China-Nauru diplomatic ties?

Editor's note: Luke Mani, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is the director of the Solomon Islands Foreign Policy Advisory Secretariat. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Nauru's Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Lionel Aingimea signed a joint communique to resume diplomatic relations between the two countries in Beijing on January 24.

This followed an earlier announcement made by Nauruan President David Adeang on January 15, that Nauru will be severing "diplomatic ties" with the Taiwan region and instead pursue full diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC), in line with the UN resolution 2758 in recognizing the one-China principle. Nauru also pledged to recognize the government of the PRC as the sole and legitimate government of the whole of China with Taiwan as an inalienable region. 

Minister Aingimea, during the signing ceremony, talked of bright prospects for the cooperation between the two countries and a partnership built on "development strategy" and "shared government principles." Wang Yi, meanwhile, spoke of the two countries sharing a long history regardless of geographical separation by vast expanses of the oceans.

The 183rd country to establish diplomatic relations with China, Nauru's decision underlines China's growing influence in the Pacific islands. This influence is strongly linked to China's focus on economic cooperation and development, particularly infrastructure development.

Under its flagship infrastructure, trade, and investment project, the Belt and Road Initiative, China's cooperation with many Pacific Island countries has delivered infrastructures such as roads, ports, airports, telecommunications infrastructure, hydropower plants, hospitals, schools, solar power plants, and other critical infrastructure.

For Pacific Island countries, most of whom have limited access to development finance and have for so long suffered from economic isolation and stagnation, these investments have been a lifeline, providing much-needed resources and support to help them meet their development goals.

Pacific Islands countries yet to establish relations with China, that are instead aligned to traditional development partners with a much weaker emphasis on economic development will inevitably be tempted to embrace China, as has happened to Nauru and previously, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati.

China's appeal to Pacific Island countries is also driven by its commitment to addressing global challenges like climate change and sustainable development. For a region with many low-level atolls, prone to natural disasters such as cyclones and sea-level rise, climate change is an existential and priority policy issue for the region.

Yet U.S. government policy reversals such as former President Donald Trump's withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in 2020 and similar lukewarm support from its allies, strongly eroded the West's appeal in recent years. China, on the other hand, has been consistent in embracing its climate change and environmental responsibilities. With its investments and global leadership in renewable energy and other sustainable technologies, China is becoming one of the most popular partners among Pacific Island countries.

The resumed China-Nauru diplomatic relationship is also a huge blow to the Taiwan authority and its so-called allies. This is considering the failure of concerted efforts by Taiwan and its "allies" to stem Beijing's influence. In financial aid, the Joe Biden administration pledged $810 million to Pacific islands in 2022 in addition to Australia's presence in the region as the largest bilateral aid partner. Then there are Taiwan's investments in "long-term relationships" with the region.

Despite these, Taiwan's support is now reduced to only Tuvalu, Palau, and the Marshall Islands – a serious degradation of its regional presence and influence. Worse still, there are recent reports of a likely diplomatic switch by Tuvalu to Beijing! These rumors persist despite the governments of Tuvalu and Australia's recent signing of the "Falepili Union Treaty" to offer Tuvaluans (among other things) access to climate-change-enforced resettlement in Australia.

The resumed diplomatic relationship between China and Nauru is a significant win for Beijing and a validation of the one-China principle as a global and historical trend. With Beijing's influence firmly entrenched in the Pacific, driven by its strong economic and infrastructure investment focus, Taiwan authority's presence in the region is set to be further weakened. Increased diplomatic, economic, and infrastructure investments by the U.S., Australia, and other allies broadly aimed at stemming China's influence have proven unsuccessful.

Consequently, it may be inevitable that many of the remaining countries globally yet to establish diplomatic relations with China will do so in the foreseeable future.

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