Nicaragua received this Sunday the first 200,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine against covid-19, of a million that will be donated by China, three days after the regime of Daniel Ortega and Rosario Murillo broke its diplomatic relations with Taiwan and resumed them with Beijing.
The batch came from China together with the Nicaraguan delegation that formalized the resumption of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Managua, led by Laureano Ortega Murillo, son of the Nicaraguan presidential couple and advisor for investment, trade and international cooperation.
The donation was received at the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport by the Minister of Health, Martha Reyes, the Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Carlos Sáenz; and a delegation headed by the Minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Costa Rica, according to official information.
“On behalf of President Daniel Ortega and Vice President, Comrade Rosario Murillo, the Nicaraguan people, we deeply appreciate this gesture of solidarity, cooperation, friendship and brotherhood of the people and Government of the People’s Republic of China“Said Ortega Murillo, through the Sandinista propaganda media.
China strengthens its presence in Central America
The Ortega government announced last Thursday that it recognizes “that there is only one single China in the world,” whose legitimate government is that of the People’s Republic, and that the island of Taiwan is an “inalienable part” of its territory, therefore that severed relations with Taipei.
Hours after the break with Taiwan, China announced the resumption of diplomatic relations with Nicaragua after this country recognized the territorial principle of “one China” advocated by Beijing.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry announced the signing of a joint statement that establishes, as of Friday, “mutual recognition” and the reestablishment of diplomatic relations “at the level of ambassadors.”
With the break with Nicaragua, Taiwan sees how the number of countries that recognize it as an independent state is reduced to 14, including several Latin Americans such as Guatemala, Honduras or Paraguay.
Nicaragua joined others in the region such as Panama and El Salvador that in recent years broke ties with Taiwan to align with the Chinese position, which defends its sovereignty over the island, and Costa Rica, which did so in 2007.
Taiwan, for its part, regretted the breakdown of bilateral ties with Managua, which in its opinion represents a “contempt” for the long friendship between the two peoples by the Ortega government.
Ortega seeks resources to stay in power
Taiwan was until now the most important bilateral donor in Nicaragua, a country where it financed 27 projects in the areas of food production, fruit crops and high quality pig farming, among others, worth between 30 million and 50 million dollars, according to data from the Nicaraguan government.
The political scientist Evan Ellis, professor and researcher at the United States Department of Defense War College and expert on China-Latin America relations, he pointed out in an interview with CONFIDENTIAL that Nicaragua’s break with Taiwan and alignment with China is something “expected for a long time” and that in the short term, “it will probably give new life and help the Ortegas to continue in power, through additional resources and the opportunity to distribute money diverted from new loans and contracts with Chinese companies ”.
Although Taiwan, Ellis values, “has been a good friend” of the Nicaraguan regime, possibly the Ortega Murillos “reached an agreement with the Chinese to obtain more money than they had extorted from the Taiwanese in recent years.” This political move was also influenced by the sanctions of the United States and the Europeans and the possibility of being suspended from DR-CAFTA.
“I think it is the imperative of the Ortegas to stay in power, especially in anticipation of more sanctions from the US and Europe, and the possibility of being excluded from CAFTA, and also losing investments from the West that they have attracted as part of its integration with the North American market. Like the position of China and Russia with Venezuela, having the People’s Republic of China as a partner also helps to obstruct actions by organizations such as the UN against Nicaragua due to their lack of democracy, ”Ellis stressed.
