On June 13th, 2017, Panama’s vice president and foreign minister, Isabel de Saint Malo, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed a joint communique in Beijing, China. It means that Panama officially establishes diplomatic ties to China by shifting Taiwan to a part of Chinese territory. In other words, Panama decides to cut with Taiwan independently and set up diplomatic relationship with China, including the island of Taiwan. Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela indicated that”China constituted 20 percent of the world’s population, has the second-biggest economy and is the second-biggest user of the Panama Canal.” Based on the advocation of Chinese integration from the government, a joint statement from China and Panama clearly states that “the Government of the Republic of Panama recognises that only one China exists in the world, the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government that represents all China, and Taiwan forms an inalienable part of Chinese territory.”
The reaction from Taiwan for the decision from Panama is very angry because the decision means that the sovereign of the country is seriously threatened. Tsai Ing-wen, the president of Taiwan, declared that “we are a sovereign country. This sovereign cannot be challenged or traded.” In fact, the decision of Panama is not the only thing represents that Taiwan’s sovereign has been threatened. In 2016, the representation of Taiwan was moved from a global forum of the International Civil Aviation Organization. Moreover, in the last month, the annual assembly of the World Health Organization did not invite Taiwan. According to the “one country, two systems”, it declares that the island of Taiwan belongs to Chinese territory. “One country, two systems” is a constitutional principal, which means that there is only one China, but distinct Chinese regions such as Hong King and Taiwan could retain and use their own capitalist economic and political systems to develop, and the rest of China uses the socialist system.
Due to the historic problem, the government of Taiwan represents itself as independent and sovereign country. However, Chinese government declares that there is only one China. The conflict has been a serious political and social problem in China for a long period of time. It is true and obvious that Chinese economy has quickly developed and become powerful. It means that Chinese government has already had ability to seriously defend its sovereignty in the world.
