Taiwan says China dangled $3 billion to grab ally Dominican Republic

By Jess Macy Yu and Ben Blanchard TAIPEI/BEIJING (Reuters) - China offered the Dominican Republic a $3.1 billion package of investments and loans to get them to sever ties with Taiwan, a Taiwan official said on Tuesday, after the Caribbean nation switched allegiance to China in a diplomatic blow to the self-ruled island. China said there were no economic pre-conditions. Taiwan, claimed by China as its own, has formal relations now with only 19 countries, many of them poor nations in Central America and the Pacific like Belize and Nauru.

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