With many Taiwanese embassies closed, China shifts target to representative offices

China's shift to closing Taiwan's representative offices—particularly in the strategically critical South Pacific—directly erodes Taiwan's diplomatic isolation resistance and creates space for Beijing to deepen influence over Pacific island nations that Australia depends on for regional security and alliance cohesion. This represents a methodical campaign to sever Taiwan's last informal ties to non-recognising governments, weakening the alliance architecture Australia relies on to counter Chinese expansion in the Indo-Pacific.