Nicaragua’s decision to switch diplomatic recognition to China last week was likely made by Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday.
Ortega won a fourth consecutive term in an election that was seen as controversial and, in response, Washington had announced a series of sanctions on Nicaragua, Wu said, and that was probably why Ortega had decided to ally himself with China and Russia, and to sever ties with Taiwan.
Nicaragua’s decision on Thursday was followed by Taipei’s announcement that it was terminating diplomatic relations with the Central American nation.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making preparations to close Taiwan’s embassy in Nicaragua, and withdraw all personnel and staff stationed there, Wu said, adding that negotiations over the matter are still ongoing.
Wu also explained why the ministry did not hold a news conference on Friday to announce the severance decision, but instead issued a number of news releases, a move that was criticized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) as “irresponsible.”
A number of senior diplomats responsible for the matter were not in Taiwan and therefore the ministry was unable to hold a news conference, Wu said, promising that the ministry would speak to the public about the switch in due course.
Wu was likely referring to the absence of Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui (俞大㵢).
Yui is in charge of Latin American affairs at the ministry and was reportedly visiting Central America in an attempt to stabilize diplomatic ties with Nicaragua before the switch, although the ministry did not confirm his schedule.
Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016, Taiwan has lost eight diplomatic allies — Burkina Faso, Panama, Sao Tome and Principe, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati and Nicaragua.
A strong continental cold air mass and abundant moisture bringing snow to mountains 3,000m and higher over the past few days are a reminder that more than 60 years ago Taiwan had an outdoor ski resort that gradually disappeared in part due to climate change. On Oct. 24, 2021, the National Development Council posted a series of photographs on Facebook recounting the days when Taiwan had a ski resort on Hehuanshan (合歡山) in Nantou County. More than 60 years ago, when developing a branch of the Central Cross-Island Highway, the government discovered that Hehuanshan, with an elevation of more than 3,100m,
Death row inmate Huang Lin-kai (黃麟凱), who was convicted for the double murder of his former girlfriend and her mother, is to be executed at the Taipei Detention Center tonight, the Ministry of Justice announced. Huang, who was a military conscript at the time, was convicted for the rape and murder of his ex-girlfriend, surnamed Wang (王), and the murder of her mother, after breaking into their home on Oct. 1, 2013. Prosecutors cited anger over the breakup and a dispute about money as the motives behind the double homicide. This is the first time that Minister of Justice Cheng Ming-chien (鄭銘謙) has
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