US knew Nauru might cut ties to Taiwan before it did so, State Department official says

A top US State Department official has acknowledged that the US was aware that the Pacific island nation of Nauru was weighing whether to switch its diplomatic ties from Taiwan to mainland China before it formally did so in January, and sought to counter the move.

“We had known for some time that there were concerns in Nauru and we were working with partners to meet those,” Daniel Kritenbrink, assistant secretary for East Asian and Pacific affairs, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at a hearing on Thursday about US strategies for the Pacific islands.

“But in this instance, they decided to flip,” he added.

Emphasising that the “recognition question” was a sovereign decision, he advised Taiwan’s three remaining Pacific partners – Tuvalu, the Marshall Islands and Palau – to be “careful and clear-eyed about entering in these arrangements with China”.

“China often makes many promises that remain unfulfilled, and that can have negative consequences,” Kritenbrink warned, adding that Washington was working “very carefully and closely” with the three nations to make sure their “needs are met”.

The area of the Pacific where Nauru is located is a strategically significant region that has become a battleground for influence between Beijing and Washington.

In January, just days after William Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party won the Taiwan presidential election, Nauru formally restored diplomatic ties with Beijing. In the run-up to the election, Beijing had repeatedly called Lai a “dangerous separatist”.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a rogue province that must eventually be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary. The US, like most countries, does not recognise the self-ruled island as independent but