Coronavirus crisis a new battleground for Beijing, Taipei

HONG KONG • The weeks-long ordeal of more than 1,000 Taiwanese stuck at the centre of China's coronavirus outbreak shows how the global health crisis has evolved into another battleground for Beijing and Taipei.

Taiwan yesterday was set to airlift almost 500 of its residents from Wuhan, the original epicentre of an outbreak that has since spread across the globe and shaken markets more than anything since the financial crisis.

However, another 500 Taiwanese will for now remain stuck in the central Chinese city.

While many countries have flown their citizens home from China since early last month, officials on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have spent weeks arguing over the details of an evacuation. Each blames the other for the standoff, which began just weeks after Taiwan's China-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen secured re-election in a landslide vote.

Because Chinese President Xi Jinping severed direct communications with Taiwan after Ms Tsai ousted a more-Beijing-friendly government in 2016, the two sides were forced to use cross-strait business associations to arrange for several hundred Taiwanese to return home by charter flight last month.

Rows over passenger lists and safety precautions have held up further evacuations until now, when Mr Xi has grown so confident about containing the outbreak that he visited Wuhan yesterday.

The evacuations have become just one more point of contention in the 70-year-old dispute between Taipei and Beijing. China views democratically run Taiwan as part of its territory.

Officials in Taipei argue that China is endangering lives for geopolitical aims, after campaigning to lure away Taiwan's diplomatic allies and block its participation in multilateral groups, including the World Health Organisation.

The delayed evacuation is "an example of how Beijing's determination to assert itself against Taiwan to the fullest possible extent really is a top priority", said political science professor Shelley Rigger at Davidson College in North Carolina, who has written three books on Taiwan.

"At a moment when they have so much else going on, and their institutions are strained to the max, they still have time to focus on making things difficult for Taiwan."

As the virus' global spread worsened last month, Taiwan was forced to scramble jets after China sent warplanes around the island.

The dispute has been getting greater attention in the United States, which has formal relations with Beijing but provides military assistance to Taipei under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

US lawmakers are pushing the Taiwan Assurance Act, which would dub the island a "vital part" of America's Indo-Pacific strategy, encourage more US arms sales and criticise Taipei's exclusion from international organisations as "detrimental to global health".

Taiwan has reported 47 cases of the virus and one death as of yesterday, a low tally given its close economic ties and flight links to the mainland, which still represents a majority of the cases.

Taiwan has insisted that its medical personnel screen passengers returning from Wuhan, accompany them on their trip and monitor and quarantine them, if necessary, after they arrive.

The Chinese side pins the blame on the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which asserts that Taiwan is a sovereign nation and supports formally asserting independence.

Ms Tsai was re-elected on a pledge to keep pushing back against Beijing, as historic unrest in the former British colony of Hong Kong made Taiwanese more anxious about increased China ties.

Ms Tsai's government "is politicising the epidemic", said Professor Li Zhenguang of Taiwan studies at Beijing Union University.

"After the first batch of Taiwanese went back, the DPP administration nitpicked and attacked the way the mainland handled it."

Meanwhile, Taipei has also been battling a steady stream of misinformation about its handling of the coronavirus outbreak, including posts claiming Ms Tsai's government has been deliberately suppressing cases tallies.

The Taiwan FactCheck Centre found there was no evidence to support that claim, one of almost 50 examples of such disinformation.

Still, Dr Rigger said Taiwan's initial success in handling the virus could bolster its long-running push for greater inclusion in international organisations coordinating the global response.

BLOOMBERG