Taipei blames Beijing for Nicaragua's diplomatic switch
Responding to the severing of ties, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said Taiwan would not abdicate its responsibilities as a member of the international democratic community, adding that Nicaragua's decision involved complex international politics and the cross-strait situation.
"I want to tell our people that the more successful Taiwan's democracy and stronger the support for Taiwan from the international community, the larger pressure from the authoritarian rule camp comes."
Regardless of diplomatic pressure or military threats, Tsai said Taiwan would not shrink from its duty to "uphold democracy and freedom while walking toward the world."
In a statement, MOFA expressed its "strong condemnation" of Beijing, saying China had forced Taiwan's ally to switch allegiance in an attempt to squeeze Taipei's international space.
It said "the people of Taiwan will not cave to China's pressure."
MOFA went on to stress they held on to the position that Taiwan and China were separate entities, saying that Taiwan was not part of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and that the PRC had never ruled the island of Taiwan.
Speaking with local media in New Taipei, Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) made similar remarks, saying that "China has resorted to all forms of maneuvers to isolate Taiwan" from the international community.
Su added that there were more and more democratic and like-minded countries that had expressed support for Taiwan.
However, the premier did not respond to media questions as to whether Taiwan's government had been made aware of the diplomatic switch -- which was announced early Friday morning (Taipei time) -- ahead of the event.
Nicaraguan officials were already present in China at the time, with Chinese state media saying Friday that talks would take place later in the day in Tianjin between government representatives from both countries.
Nicaragua's Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared its severance of diplomatic ties with Taiwan in a statement issued in the early hours of Friday morning, saying it would "cease to have any contact or official relationship" with Taipei.
In response, MOFA later said it would recall its embassy staff and technical mission from the Central American nation. Read More…
