Nicaragua ends relations with Taiwan

The Nicaraguan announcement now leaves a little more than a dozen countries worldwide that maintain official diplomatic relations with self-ruled Taiwan, including fellow Central American countries Honduras and Guatemala. “The People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all of China and Taiwan is an undoubted part of the Chinese territory,” Nicaragua’s Foreign Minister Denis Moncada said in a televised announcement from capital city Managua on Thursday.”The government of the Republic of Nicaragua breaks diplomatic relations with Taiwan as of today and stopped having any contact or official relationship,” he said. Mainland China and Taiwan have been governed separately since the end of the Chinese civil war more than 70 years ago. Taiwan is now a flourishing multi-party democracy, but the mainland’s ruling Chinese Communist Party continues to view the island as an inseparable part of its territory — despite having never controlled itBeijing refuses to maintain diplomatic ties with any country that recognizes Taiwan and has spent much of the past 40 years attempting to isolate the island by chipping away at its diplomatic allies with offers of economic support. The number of countries who have diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than Beijing has shrunk rapidly in recent years as China looks to ramp up its global influence and outreach under President China’s ambassador to the United Nations Zhang Jun said on Twitter Friday that he “highly commended” Nicaragua’s decision to end diplomatic relations with Taiwan, “which is in line with the prevailing trend of the time and people’s aspiration.””The One-China principle is a consensus widely accepted by the international community and allows no challenge,” he said.Under Xi, relations between Taipei and Beijing have deteriorated to levels not seen in decades. In October, China’s military sent a record number of warplanes into the air around the island, amid threats of further military action. Meanwhile, the United States has sought to bolster Taiwan on the world stage with large arms sales and high profile visits by American officials. Thursday’s announcement leaves Taiwan with just 14 diplomatic allies, mostly small nations in the Caribbean and the Pacific, as well as the Vatican.In a statement, Taiwan’s foreign ministry expressed “pain and regret” at the news and said it would in turn sever diplomatic relations with Nicaragua, halt bilateral cooperation, and evacuate staffers from the country.”The Ortega presidency disregarded the long-term friendship between Taiwanese and Nicaraguan that shared weal and woe. We are very sorry to see that,” it said, referring to Nicaragua’s recently reelected leader Daniel Ortega.”Taiwan as a part of international society has the right to diplomatic relations with other countries. We will continue to promote “Steadfast Diplomacy” to expand our international surviving space, dedicating ourselves into maintaining regional peace and stability, fighting for the international status that we deserve, and protecting this nation’s interests and the benefit of the people,” Taiwan’s statement also said.According to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency, this is not the first time that Nicaragua has broken ties with the self-governing island. It previously switched recognition to Beijing in 1985 — also under President Ortega, who is currently serving his fifth non-consecutive term. The two countries resumed ties in 1990, during the presidency of Violeta Barrios de Chamorro, CNA reported.Reporting contributed by CNN’s Philip Wang in Atlanta, Caitlin Hu in New York City, Matt Rivers in Mexico City, and Ben Westcott, Wayne Chang and Eric Chueng in Hong Kong.