Beijing Envoy Denies Paying Nauru Millions to Switch Diplomatic Ties Away from Taiwan

Beijing has denied paying Pacific nation Nauru to switch diplomatic ties from Taiwan. In a surprise announcement, just two days after the Taiwan presidential election, Nauru declared it was switching diplomatic ties to the democratic island, while declaring in a statement that Taiwan was “an inalienable part of China’s territory.” Beijing claims the self-governing Taiwan as its territory. Amid the fallout of the decision, Taiwan’s semi-official Central News Agency—quoting an unnamed Taiwanese official—blamed the sudden decision on Nauru’s displeasure at a shortfall of $125 million resulting from the Australian government reducing activity at its asylum seeker processing centre on the island....