TAIPEI - Nicaragua has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China, denying the democratically self-ruled island's efforts to expand its international profile amid opposition from Beijing.
In a televised address on Thursday local time, Nicaraguan Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said that Taiwan is a part of China.
The decision by the Central American nation whittles Taiwan's number of diplomatic partners to 14, including the Vatican. Taiwan's Foreign Ministry expressed displeasure with the choice of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega to switch recognition to Beijing in a statement on Friday, and said it would immediately cease assistance programs and clear out its embassy in Managua.
President Ortega s government has disregarded the friendship of the two countries built on years of standing together through thick and thin, and we regret it very much, the statement said.
According to Chinese state media, delegations from China and Nicaragua held talks in the Chinese city of Tianjin on Friday. This is a correct choice that conforms with trends and the people's will, China's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
China's Communist Party, which has never ruled in Taiwan, has tried to isolate the island of 24 million people internationally by luring away its few remaining diplomatic partners. Nicaragua is the eighth country to cut ties with Taiwan in 2016 after Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan's president in 2016.
The more successful Taiwan's democracy is, the more international support it has, the greater the pressure from the authoritarian camp, Ms. Tsai said at a Friday event in Taipei. Our determination to participate in the international democratic community will not be disturbed by threats and intimidation. The decision of Nicaragua is a setback for Taiwan after a string of diplomatic successes over the past year, including increased shows of support from the U.S., the U.K. and other democratic powers. The island's success in combating the Covid 19 epidemic, despite being barred from fully engaging with the World Health Organization, has helped bolster its global stature.
Over the past year, Beijing has increased its pressure on Taiwan, due to closer ties between Taipei and Washington. Those efforts included sending hundreds of military aircraft on sorties near the island.
U.S. State Department Spokesman Ned Price said that the decisions of Mr. Oretga, who claimed a re-election victory last month after jailing seven would-be presidential candidates, shouldn't be seen as reflecting the will of Nicaraguans.
In a statement, Price said that this deprives Nicaragua's people of a steadfast partner in its democratic and economic growth.
Nicaragua s announcement came as representatives from Taiwan participated in the inaugural Summit for Democracy, a two-day virtual gathering of democratic governments organized by the Biden White House that kicked off Thursday. Biden's invitation to Taiwan irked Beijing, which accused the U.S. of providing a platform for the promotion of Taiwanese independence.
Kharis Templeman, a research fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, said the timing is a bit suggestive. It may have been in the works for a while, but it decided to do it now, partly to punish Taiwan or the Biden administration, or both, for their democracy summit. Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for Beijing's Taiwan Affairs Office, reiterated China's stand on Taiwan, saying it welcomes Taiwan's few remaining so-called diplomatic partner countries to recognize the trend and stand on the right side of history. In the last time Taiwan lost diplomatic partners in the year 2019 was when the Pacific nations of Kiribati and the Solomon Islands switched recognition to Beijing from Taipei as Ms. Tsai was fighting for re-election. She won by a decisive vote.
Timothy Rich, an associate professor in political science at Western Kentucky University, said Nicaragua's breaking relations provides an opportunity to capture international attention on how China acts to isolate democracies.
Despite the latest loss, Taiwan has expanded its unofficial diplomatic relationships over the past year, especially in Central and Eastern Europe. In August of this year, Lithuania, which has diplomatic relations with Beijing, allowed Taiwan to set up a de facto embassy in Vilnius. Many countries have allowed Taiwan to do the same, referring to the de facto embassies as Taipei offices. China recalled Lithuania's ambassador to Lithuania and expelled Lithuania's ambassador to Beijing.
Hoover spokesman Mr. Templeman said that Taipei's success in unofficial diplomacy should cushion the blow from Nicaragua's decision.
In the past few years a lot of progress has been made for Taiwan that is more beneficial, and it should outweigh anything that happens on the formal diplomatic side, he said.