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Nicaragua made switch due to geopolitics: Taiwan foreign minister

ROC Central News Agency

12/14/2021 12:53 PM

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) Nicaragua's decision to switch diplomatic recognition to China last week was "heartbreaking" for Taiwan and was likely made by President Daniel Ortega as part of a geopolitical rivalry between democratic and authoritarian regimes, Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said Tuesday.

The intensifying conflict between the United States-led democracy camp and the China-Russia-led authoritarian camp in recent years was the main reason for Taiwan's loss of the Central American country as an ally, Wu told reporters on the sidelines of the 2021 Taiwan-US-Japan Trilateral Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue conference in Taipei.

According to Wu, Ortega recently won a fourth consecutive term in an election that was seen by some as controversial.

In response to Ortega's re-election, 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 end ties with Taiwan.

The timing for announcing the diplomatic switch was also carefully chosen as it was the first day of the U.S.-held Summit for Democracy in which Taiwan, instead of China, had been invited to attend, Wu said.

"It was heartbreaking for us to lose a diplomatic ally. We in the foreign ministry had all done our best to maintain the official relationship but to no avail," he said, while condemning Beijing for snatching away another of the country's allies.

Nicaragua's Thursday decision was followed by Taiwan's announcement that it was terminating diplomatic relations with the Central American country and recalling the staff at its embassy and technical mission there.

According to Wu, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making preparations to close down Taiwan's embassy in Nicaragua and withdraw all personnel and staff stationed there. He said that negotiations over the matter are still ongoing.

Wu also explained why the ministry did not hold a press conference on Friday to announce the severance decision but instead issued a number of press releases, a move that was criticized by the opposition Kuomintang as irresponsible.

A number of senior diplomats responsible for the matter were not in Taiwan and therefore the ministry was unable to hold a press event, said Wu as he promised that his ministry would speak to the public about the diplomatic switch in due time.

Wu was likely referring to the absence of Vice Foreign Minister Alexander Yui (俞大㵢) in Taipei.

Yui is in charge of Latin American affairs at the ministry and was reportedly visiting Central America in an attempt to stabilize Taiwan's ties with Nicaragua before the switch though the foreign ministry did not confirm his schedule.

The termination of diplomatic relations between the Republic of China, which is Taiwan's official name, and Nicaragua leaves Taiwan with 14 diplomatic allies worldwide.

Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016, Taiwan has lost eight diplomatic allies, namely Burkina Faso, Panama, Sao Tome and Principe, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, the Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and Nicaragua.

(By Joseph Yeh)

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