Taiwan loses El Salvador

Politics & Current Affairs

Beijing counted another small victory in its decades-long endeavor to box Taiwan out of international space when yet another country broke diplomatic ties with the island in favor of the PRC: El Salvador.

  • El Salvadorโ€™s president, Salvador Sรกnchez Cerรฉn,ย said in a televised address, โ€œWe are convinced this is a step in the right direction that corresponds to the principles of international law, of international relations and the inevitable trends of our time,โ€ the Guardian reports.
  • Taiwanโ€™s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, said that the real issueย was that โ€œEl Salvador had asked Taiwan to provide an โ€˜astronomical sumโ€™ in financial aid for a port project that officials believed would leave both countries in debt,โ€ according to the Guardian.
  • A tweeted statementย from Taiwanโ€™s foreign ministry, initialed JW for Joseph Wu, further argued: โ€œAs a responsible member of the global community, Taiwan will not engage in dollar nor debt-trap diplomacy. This is why El Salvadorโ€™s repeated requests for assistance with an unfeasible port development were declined.โ€
  • Opposition lawmakers in El Salvador indicated there was another controversy that led to the decision to break ties: โ€œthe government of the FMLN (Sanchez Cerenโ€™s political party) asked [Taiwan] for money to finance the campaign in 2019,โ€ one lawmaker said, a claim that a government spokesperson said was โ€œtotally false,โ€ AP reports.
  • Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wenย also weighed in: โ€œWe will turn to countries with similar values to fight together against China’s increasingly out-of-control international behaviorโ€ (Reuters).
  • โ€œEl Salvador is the fifth country Taiwan will loseย as a diplomatic ally since Tsai came to office in 2016, following Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic, Sao Tome and Principe and Panama,โ€ Reuters notes.
  • But Taipei-based reporter Chris Horton,ย who covered the news for the New York Timesย (paywall), pointed out on Twitter: โ€œAlways worth restating that Taiwan’s unofficial allies, including the US and Japan are vastly more important than any remaining official diplomatic relationships.โ€