Nicaraguan president-elect Daniel Ortega on Tuesday promised to continue diplomatic relations with Taiwan, amid speculation that the Central American ally might switch allegiance to China.
"After the change of government [late yesterday], I hope to continue all kinds of relationships with the people and government of Taiwan," Ortega said.
"I'd like to reiterate my warm welcome to all the officials and businesspeople of the Republic of China, Taiwan, at a time when we have committed ourselves to fighting poverty," he said.
PHOTO: CNA
Ortega made the remarks on Tuesday evening while meeting with President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen arrived in the Nicaraguan capital on Tuesday afternoon. He was to attend the inauguration of Ortega late yesterday and was greeted with military honors at the airport.
Ortega had said before the election that if he won, he would switch recognition from Taiwan to China to meet the needs of the Nicaraguan business sector.
Nicaragua recognized Beijing in 1985 after Ortega's first election. However, former president Violeta Chamorro broke with Beijing and re-established ties with Taiwan after defeating Ortega in 1990.
Chen met Ortega and Nicaraguan vice president-elect Jaime Morales Carazo in the evening before having dinner with Taiwanese expatriates, embassy personnel and agricultural mission members.
Ortega yesterday told Chen that his new government would continue diplomatic relations with Taiwan, while developing exchanges with China. While Oretega has invited China to establish trade offices in his country, Beijing has not yet responded.
When asked by the Taipei Times during Tuesday night's press conference whether Taiwan could accept Nicaragua's recognition of Taiwan and China at the same time, Chen said that his government has never opposed such a situation.
However, such a scenario would not be an issue, Chen said, because what the Nicaraguan government wants is to maintain economic ties with Beijing rather than diplomatic.
"The crux of the problem lies in China's unwillingness, rather than Taiwan's," he said.
Regarding Taiwan-US relations, Chen said that he realized the US government needs China's help in tackling problems in Iran, Iraq and North Korea, but he did not want to see cooperation between Washington and Beijing sacrifice Taiwan's interests.
Chen said that his administration values the hard-earned mutual trust and long-term friendship between the two countries.
The president also thanked the US government for giving him a "comfortable, convenient, safe and dignified" transit stay in San Francisco, emphasizing that such a foundation of mutual trust should not be easily impaired.
Chen said that he would keep the promises he made to the US government and US President George W. Bush.
Meanwhile, Chen said that he was following the recommendation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to personally attend the inauguration with the aim of consolidating ties with Nicaragua.
During his meeting with Morales, Chen said that the vice president told him that they plan to relocate the presidential office and turn the old one into the "Home of Taiwan" dedicated to the care of the underprivileged.
also see stories:
AIT chairman poised for New Year visit
Taiwan's Congress friends plan early push
No rest for president during US stop
DPP decries Chiang relative's criticism during Chen's visit
AGING: As of last month, people aged 65 or older accounted for 20.06 percent of the total population and the number of couples who got married fell by 18,685 from 2024 Taiwan has surpassed South Korea as the country least willing to have children, with an annual crude birthrate of 4.62 per 1,000 people, Ministry of the Interior data showed yesterday. The nation was previously ranked the second-lowest country in terms of total fertility rate, or the average number of children a woman has in her lifetime. However, South Korea’s fertility rate began to recover from 2023, with total fertility rate rising from 0.72 and estimated to reach 0.82 to 0.85 by last year, and the crude birthrate projected at 6.7 per 1,000 people. Japan’s crude birthrate was projected to fall below six,
US President Donald Trump in an interview with the New York Times published on Thursday said that “it’s up to” Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) what China does on Taiwan, but that he would be “very unhappy” with a change in the “status quo.” “He [Xi] considers it to be a part of China, and that’s up to him what he’s going to be doing, but I’ve expressed to him that I would be very unhappy if he did that, and I don’t think he’ll do that. I hope he doesn’t do that,” Trump said. Trump made the comments in the context
SELF-DEFENSE: Tokyo has accelerated its spending goal and its defense minister said the nation needs to discuss whether it should develop nuclear-powered submarines China is ramping up objections to what it sees as Japan’s desire to acquire nuclear weapons, despite Tokyo’s longstanding renunciation of such arms, deepening another fissure in the two neighbors’ increasingly tense ties. In what appears to be a concerted effort, China’s foreign and defense ministries issued statements on Thursday condemning alleged remilitarism efforts by Tokyo. The remarks came as two of the country’s top think tanks jointly issued a 29-page report framing actions by “right-wing forces” in Japan as posing a “serious threat” to world peace. While that report did not define “right-wing forces,” the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs was
PREPAREDNESS: Given the difficulty of importing ammunition during wartime, the Ministry of National Defense said it would prioritize ‘coproduction’ partnerships A newly formed unit of the Marine Corps tasked with land-based security operations has recently replaced its aging, domestically produced rifles with more advanced, US-made M4A1 rifles, a source said yesterday. The unnamed source familiar with the matter said the First Security Battalion of the Marine Corps’ Air Defense and Base Guard Group has replaced its older T65K2 rifles, which have been in service since the late 1980s, with the newly received M4A1s. The source did not say exactly when the upgrade took place or how many M4A1s were issued to the battalion. The confirmation came after Chinese-language media reported
RSS