Nicaragua has broken off diplomatic relations with Taiwan, recognizing the principle of “one China”. “The People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government that represents all of China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory,” said Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada. An announcement that came precisely in conjunction with the US initiative of the Summit for Democracy, to which Taiwan was invited but from which Russia and, precisely, China were excluded, and in a historical phase in which the pressures and provocations of Beijing against Taipei they are increasing in intensity.
In response, the United States calls on democratic countries to “increase their ties with Taiwan” after Nicaragua’s move. “We encourage all countries that value democratic institutions, transparency, the rule of law and the promotion of economic prosperity for their citizens to increase their ties with Taiwan,” the department wrote in a news release. The break with Taipei, announced as a surprise by the government of President Daniel Ortega, “deprives the people of Nicaragua of a loyal partner for their democratic and economic growth,” the statement added.
The Taiwanese issue is currently poisoning US-China relations.
First donor country
The official announcement by the Managua government was greeted with regret, but firmly, by the Taiwanese authorities. The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry, in a message spread via Twitter, observed that in this way “the government of Ortega ignores cooperation that benefits the people”. For its part, the Nicaraguan opposition newspaper La Prensa recalled tonight that “Taiwan was Nicaragua’s most important donor country”, providing, among other things, important resources “to the health, economic, social and livestock sectors” and constituting “a key ally in the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (Cabei), an institution that has economically oxygenated the Nicaraguan authorities. Until the middle of this year, finally underlines the newspaper, “Taiwan had already overtaken the European Union (EU) as a source of resources, after having increased its financial commitment to the government of Managua”.
Regret of Taiwan
“It is with great regret that we break off diplomatic relations with Nicaragua: the long-standing friendship and successful cooperation for the benefit of the people of both countries have been ignored by the Ortega government,” reads a note from the Foreign Ministry. of Taiwan, according to which the island “has always been a sincere and reliable friend, working for a long time to improve” the development of Nicaragua.