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Nicaragua's President Daniel Ortega and China's Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu present the communiqué on the resumption of diplomatic relations
Photo: Yue Yuewei / AP
Taiwan is losing another ally in Latin America: Nicaragua has declared diplomatic relations with the East Asian island republic to be over and has embraced Beijing's one-China doctrine.
Nicaragua's government declares that there is only one China in the world, said the Central American country's foreign minister, Denis Moncada, on Thursday.
The government of the People's Republic is the only legitimate one in China, of which Taiwan is an inalienable part.
The reason for switching sides was initially unclear.
Taiwan was "dismayed" by the sudden change of diplomatic side and announced that it would withdraw its diplomatic and technical staff from the capital, Managua.
Delegations from China and Nicaragua sealed the move in the east Chinese port city of Tianjin
Taiwan has always been a "loyal and reliable friend of Nicaragua," said the Foreign Ministry in Taipei.
"We regret that the government of President Daniel Ortega is ignoring the long friendship between the peoples of Taiwan and Nicaragua." Chinese state television reported that delegations from China and Nicaragua had previously met in the east Chinese port city of Tianjin to seal the change.
Meanwhile, the US called on all democratic countries to strengthen their ties with Taipei.
"All countries that value democratic institutions" should "expand their engagement with Taiwan," said the US State Department on Thursday.
The decision of the President of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, also "does not reflect the will of the Nicaraguan people."
According to the US State Department, the recent presidential election in the Central American country, in which Ortega was elected for a fourth term, was a "hoax". With the decision to see Beijing instead of Taipei as the sole and legal representative of China, Nicaragua is losing "a reliable partner for its democratic and economic growth," the ministry said.
China sees the democratic Taiwan, which split off from the mainland in 1949, as a breakaway province and tries to isolate it internationally.
The island republic with 23 million inhabitants sees itself as independent.
With its one-China doctrine, the communist leadership in Beijing does not allow any country to have relations with both the People's Republic and Taiwan.
Most recently, China once again threatened to conquer Taiwan for “reunification”.
Page changers are obviously hoping for economic advantages
In 2017 and 2018, the Latin American states of Panama, Dominican Republic and El Salvador broke with Taiwan in favor of China.
There are hardly more than a dozen countries in the world that diplomatically recognize Taiwan - including mainly small Pacific countries, Caribbean islands and states in Central America.
Countries that recently switched sides apparently hoped for economic advantages from a good relationship with China.
In Nicaragua, the increasingly authoritarian government of the former left revolutionary Daniel Ortega has been in power since 2007.
muk / dpa / AFP