China’s stunning new campaign to turn the world against Taiwan

Seventy countries have recently backed “all Chinese efforts” to take the island. The new wording has been adopted in the past 18 months, after a Chinese diplomatic offensive across the global south.

As the world is consumed by Donald Trump’s trade war, China is quietly gathering backers against Taiwan. Bethany Rae

The Economist

Feb 10, 2025 – 2.42pm

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For those anxious about Chinese aggression towards the self-ruled island of Taiwan, there was a welcome signal at the end of Donald Trump’s third week back in the White House. After talks with Shigeru Ishiba, the Japanese prime minister, on February 7, the two leaders said America and Japan “opposed any attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion” in relation to Taiwan, which China claims as its own.

This steely new language was a win in America’s long quest to get its allies to show more solidarity with Taiwan. Yet in the battle for global backing over the island’s fate, China is rapidly gaining ground.

The Economist