China and Kiribati have established diplomatic relations, Chinese state media reported on Saturday. What isolate a little more Taiwan, with which the micro-Pacific State had broken a week before.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Kiribati President Taneti Mamau on Friday signed a joint statement sealing relations on the sidelines of the UN climate summit, Xinhua News Agency reported.

Taiwan, which claims the name of the Republic of China, is only recognized by 15 states. The island has now lost seven supporters since the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, whose party defends an uncompromising line towards Beijing.

Seven allies in three years

Mainland China and Taiwan have been ruled by rival regimes since 1949 and the flight on the island of Chiang Kai-shek’s nationalists, defeated by Communist troops of Mao Tse Tung. Beijing still sees Taiwan as an integral part of its territory that could be resumed by force.

Between these two “China”, each state must choose which one it recognizes. It is only countries with little influence that recognize Taiwan and not the People’s Republic of China, mainly in Latin America, the Caribbean and the Pacific, while the Vatican remains the last in Europe.

China has torn Taiwan from seven allies in three years: Sao Tome and Principe, Burkina Faso, Panama, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, and finally, the same month, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati. (nxp)