Nicaragua on Monday reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan at a time when other countries in the region have shifted their allegiance to China under strong pressure from Beijing.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has publicly stated that his country would maintain relations with Taiwan, and that there was no need for speculation on ties between Nicaragua and Taiwan, Nicaraguan Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Valdrack Jaentschke told Taiwanese reporters after a seminar held in Washington by US-based think tank Inter-American Dialogue.
Asked about the status of Nicaragua’s ties with Taiwan, Jaentschke said that they were strong.
Asked if Nicaragua has come under pressure from Beijing to break ties with Taiwan or from Washington to keep relations, Jaentschke said Nicaragua is committed to establishing peace, security and tranquility.
“President Ortega has said and a number of [legislators] have said that we will continue our relationship with Taiwan. That was said publicly this week,” Jaentschke said.
“So I don’t see why we need to put that in doubt,” he added. “That is our formal and official position.”
Following his election as president in 1984, Ortega broke relations with Taiwan to recognize China in 1985, but after he lost his bid for re-election in 1990, the new government resumed diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Although he returned to power in 2007, Ortega has maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Amid increased pressure from China, Taiwan has lost five diplomatic allies to China since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May 2016: Panama in June last year, Sao Tome and Principe in December last year, the Dominican Republic and Burkina Faso in May, and El Salvador last month, leaving Taiwan with 17 allies.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors