FUTILE: The minister of foreign affairs announced the decision just hours after the ministry determined that El Salvador was insistent on changing sides to China
Taipei Times
Date: Aug 22, 2018
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
The government yesterday severed diplomatic ties with El Salvador after
President Tsai Ing-wen, center, speaks during a news conference as members of her Cabinet look on at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday. Photo: Sam Yeh/AFP
learning of its decision to switch allegiance to China — an apparent Beijing-orchestrated move — blasting the timing, one day after President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) return from an overseas state visit, as utterly unacceptable.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) announced the decision at a morning news conference in Taipei, just hours after the ministry determined that all diplomatic efforts to salvage its 85-year relation with the Central American country had been futile.
“It is regrettable that just one day after Tsai’s return from her trip, we have to deliver this bad news to the public,” Wu said, adding that Taiwan would immediately cease all cooperation and aid programs with El Salvador and pull its embassy staff out of the country.
Shortly after Wu’s announcement, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) and acting Salvadoran Foreign Minister Carlos Castaneda signed a communique in Beijing establishing formal diplomatic ties.
[FULL STORY]
