China Wins in Central America

Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy thinks that if the U.S. leaves Asia, the Chinese Communist Party will leave the Americas alone. He might want to look at what happened recently as the Central American Parliament voted to remove Taiwan as an observer and replace it with China.

The Central American Parliament represents five countries south of Mexico plus the Dominican Republic. Nicaragua cut its diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2021, and this summer President and dictator Daniel Ortega proposed to boot Taiwan as an observer.

Nicaragua said Taiwan isn’t recognized by the United Nations as a sovereign state and thus lacks the legal status to serve as an observer. El Salvador, Honduras, Panama and the Dominican Republic have also cut ties with Taiwan in favor of China, and the Central American Parliament’s members recently voted 73 to 32 in favor of Nicaragua’s resolution.

Taiwan, which has been an observer since 1999, announced its immediate withdrawal last month. Foreign ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei said earlier this year that “by proposing to expel Taiwan so as to let in China, undoubtedly, Nicaragua is once again attempting to curry favour with Beijing in hopes of obtaining economic aid and political support to solve its domestic economic woes.”

Beijing has also used economic coercion to get its way abroad, and the Central American Parliament’s countries remember how China embargoed trade with Lithuania after Vilnius allowed the opening of a Taiwan Representative Office in 2021. China wants to be a global power, and declaring a “modern Monroe Doctrine” won’t stop its intervention.