{"id":327864,"date":"2017-06-13T06:38:22","date_gmt":"2017-06-13T06:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=327864"},"modified":"2017-06-13T06:38:22","modified_gmt":"2017-06-13T06:38:22","slug":"panama-cuts-ties-with-taiwan-in-favour-of-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2017\/06\/panama-cuts-ties-with-taiwan-in-favour-of-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Panama cuts ties with Taiwan in favour of China"},"content":{"rendered":"
Panama has cut long-standing diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established relations with China instead.<\/p>\n
The government said it recognised there was “only one China” and that it considers Taiwan part of it.<\/p>\n
Taiwan expressed “anger and regret” and accused Panama of “bullying”.<\/p>\n
China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province. A handful of countries maintain ties with Taipei instead of Beijing, and Panama is the latest to have switched sides.<\/p>\n
In December last year, the African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe made a similar move. Now only 20 countries have diplomatic relations with Taiwan.<\/p>\n
In recent years China has intensified its economic investment into the Central American country – home of the economically vital Panama Canal.<\/p>\n
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it “expresses anger and regret” over what it called a “very unfriendly” diplomatic turn by Panama that “yielded to economic interests by the Beijing authorities”.<\/p>\n
It accused Panama of “bullying” Taiwan while “ignoring the many years of friendship” between the two countries, and added it “will not compete with the Beijing authorities for money diplomacy”.<\/p>\n
It was as recently as June last year that Taiwan’s leader Tsai Ing-wen visited Panama, on her first overseas trip as president.<\/p>\n