Taiwan Regrets Nicaragua's Decision to Cut Off Ties With Island, Foreign Ministry Says

BEIJING (Sputnik) - Taiwan deeply regrets Nicaragua's decision to cut off ties with the island and disregard the long-standing friendship between the countries in favour of establishing relations with mainland China, the Taiwan Foreign Ministry said on Friday.

"The Taiwan government deeply regrets this decision. To safeguard national sovereignty and dignity, Taiwan has decided to terminate diplomatic relations with Nicaragua with immediate effect, end all bilateral cooperation projects and aid programs, and recall staff of its Embassy and Technical Mission in Nicaragua," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also noted that Taiwan has always been a good friend of Nicaragua and has worked with the country's authorities to improve the living conditions of the Nicaraguan people and contribute to the country's development.

"Taiwan deeply regrets that the [Nicaraguan President Daniel] Ortega government has decided to disregard the long-standing and close friendship between the people of Taiwan and Nicaragua," the ministry added.

On Thursday, the Nicaraguan government announced its decision to cut off relations with Taiwan. On Friday, China and Nicaragua signed a Joint Communique on the Resumption of Diplomatic Relations.

Nicaragua established relations with Taiwan in 1930, when the island was part of the Japanese Empire. The Consulate of Taiwan in Managua received the status of embassy in 1967. The first time bilateral relations were broken was after Daniel Ortega came to power in Nicaragua in 1985. In the same year, he established diplomatic relations with Beijing. However, Ortega's successor Violeta Barrios de Chamorro revised the country's foreign policy, re-recognized Taiwan and cut relations with Beijing.

Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan — a territory with its own democratically-elected government — maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence.