Nicaragua Cuts Ties with Taiwan

In Regional News, Nicaragua has become the latest country to side with China over Taiwan, cutting all diplomatic ties with the island nation.  According to international news outlets, Taiwan said it is “deeply saddened” that  Nicaragua had disregarded many years of friendship.”  Beijing continues to see Taiwan as a breakaway province to be reunified with the mainland one day, but Taiwan considers itself independent.  Since 2016 Taiwan’s international allies have decreased from twenty-one to only fourteen, including Belize. While China celebrated the move as the quote “the right choice, in line with the global trend,” the US State Department criticized the action, saying it did not reflect the views of the Nicaraguan people because Nicaragua’s government was not freely elected. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that it would continue to promote “pragmatic diplomacy” and that it had “the right to exchange and develop diplomatic relations with other countries”.