Panama switches diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China

By Fuat Kabakci

Beijing (AA) - Panama Tuesday established diplomatic relations with China while cutting off its ties with Taiwan.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Panama counterpart Isabel de Saint Malo signed a joint declaration in Beijing to forge diplomatic ties.

By signing the declaration, Panama accepted that there is only 'one China', and that the government of the People's Republic of China is the only legal government in the country, with Taiwan as its integral part.

Panama, which established diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1954, also ended its relationship with the Island -- which China considers a breakaway province -- under the joint declaration.

Taiwan's Foreign Minister David Lee expressed "deep regret" over the decision, and "strongly condemned" Panama’s act.

In a written statement, Lee said that Panama switched its diplomatic relations for economic gains.

China is an important customer of Panama’s key shipping canal, which was constructed in June 2016 to expand its routes between Asia and South America and between the eastern United States and Asia.

Following the break, Taiwan only has official diplomatic relations with 20 countries.

In December, the African island nation of Sao Tome and Principe also cut off its diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

Since Chinese nationalist leaders fled to Taiwan in 1949 after a brutal civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists, China has seen the region as a breakaway province that will eventually return.

Tensions between China and Taiwan have been mounting since Tsai Ing-wen's traditionally pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party won the January 2016 election.

In June 2016, Beijing suspended cross-strait communication mechanisms with Taipei after Tsai’s party took power in the island territory.