Nicaragua’s decision last week to cut ties with Taiwan was part of a deliberate move by China to target Taipei’s diplomatic allies after it was excluded from a democracy summit hosted by Washington, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.
Nicaragua broke its longstanding diplomatic ties with Taiwan last week, switching allegiance to Beijing in a recognition of the Chinese Communist Party’s “one China” principle and reducing Taipei’s dwindling pool of diplomatic allies.
“When democratic countries were holding a democratic summit, China was excluded, China was a target, so China chose this opportunity to set about targeting our diplomatic allies,” Wu said on the sidelines of a forum on regional security.
Photo: CNA
Minister Without Portfolio Audrey Tang (唐鳳) and Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) represented Taiwan at US President Joe Biden’s Summit for Democracy last week. China was not on the US Department of State’s invited participants list.
“Losing a diplomatic ally is a very painful thing for us,” Wu told reporters.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Beijing has increased military and political pressure on Taiwan, with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) saying that Taiwan would not bend to pressure or change its determination to uphold democracy and freedom.
“The more successful Taiwan’s democracy is, the stronger the international support and the greater the pressure from the authoritarian camp,” Tsai said.
Nicaragua’s move to re-establish diplomatic ties with China would likely boost Beijing’s influence in a part of the world long considered to be the US’ backyard, angering the Biden administration.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega first cut ties with Taiwan in 1985, but they were re-established in 1990 under then-Nicaraguan president Violeta Barrios de Chamorro.
Wu said all of his colleagues in the ministry had “put forth their greatest efforts to maintain these diplomatic ties.”
Nicaragua’s move leaves Taiwan with just 14 diplomatic allies, most of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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