Further humiliation for Taiwan by Nicaragua

NAfter the diplomatic break with Taiwan, Nicaragua wants to hand over the premises of its previous embassy to the People’s Republic of China – much to the annoyance of Taipei. Taiwan’s government is protesting against the “illegal occupation of their property” and its transfer to the People’s Republic, said the foreign ministry of the democratic island republic on Monday.

The Vienna Agreement on Diplomatic Relations obliges states to respect and protect the premises of a previous embassy even after a break in diplomatic relations. Nicaragua surprisingly ended diplomatic relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing on December 10th.

Blocked sale

Taiwan strongly condemns, it said, that Nicaragua’s government has asked for embassy staff to be withdrawn within just two weeks, by December 23. Taiwan symbolically sold the premises in Managua of the former diplomatic mission to the Catholic Church in Nicaragua at short notice – the leadership of the Central American country arbitrarily blocked this.

The increasingly authoritarian government of Nicaragua under the former left revolutionary Daniel Ortega announced on Sunday that its commitment to Beijing’s one-China doctrine meant that all Taiwan’s assets in Nicaragua would be immediately credited to the People’s Republic.

With its one-China principle, the communist leadership in Beijing does not allow any country to maintain official diplomatic relations with both the People’s Republic and Taiwan. Beijing regards the now liberal Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic and tries to isolate it internationally.

14 states remained

Worldwide now only 14 countries diplomatically recognize the Republic of China, as Taiwan’s state name is officially – including small Pacific states, Caribbean islands, states in Central America, Paraguay and the Vatican.

However, Taiwan has unofficial branches in many other countries – including Germany – which do not call themselves that, but in principle have the function of embassies and consulates. Conversely, other states maintain corresponding facilities in Taipei, in which diplomats are also stationed.

While the Taipei government continues to emphasize the importance of the remaining diplomatic partners, who occasionally express themselves in UN bodies in the interests of Taiwan, in practice good unofficial relations with the USA, Japan and European countries play a more important role for the full global economy integrated Taiwan.