China gained a new friend in world, says Wang Yi after Nicaragua cuts its diplomatic ties with Taiwan

After Nicaragua has snapped its diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday said that Beijing has "gained a new friend in the world," adding that this proves "one-China principle is a universally recognized principle."

In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, the Foreign Minister said that recently, Nicaragua resumed diplomatic relations with China and returned to the right track of the one-China principle.

"China has gained a new friend in the world. This fully proves that the one-China principle is a universally recognized principle and represents people's aspiration and the trend of the world," Wang Yi said.

Nicaragua has broken ties with Taiwan at China's behest at a time when Taiwan was attending the US Summit for Democracy to which China and Nicaragua, both authoritarian regimes, were not invited.

Nicaragua and China timed their announcements of Managua's diplomatic break with Taiwan to be "a great gift" from Beijing to Washington on the first day of the US Summit for Democracy, according to the Voice of America.

Nicaragua announced that it was establishing diplomatic relations with China, and both announcements coincided with Taiwan's presence at the Democracy summit.

Earlier, more than 100 countries attended the summit, including liberal democracies, weaker democracies and even several states with authoritarian characteristics, according to Voice of America.

Nicaragua's government said that it recognized the People's Republic of China as "the only legitimate government that represents all of China, and Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory."

Meanwhile, Taiwan also followed suit by breaking diplomatic ties with the Central American country and accusing the latter of disregarding a "longstanding and close friendship between the two peoples."

Earlier, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen said the island will not bend to pressure or change its determination to uphold democracy. "The more successful Taiwan's democracy is, the stronger the international support, and the greater the pressure from the authoritarian camp," she said in response to Nicaragua's announcement.

On the other hand, in Nicaragua, since anti-government protests erupted in April 2018, government forces have killed more than 300 people, and the Ortega government has adopted repressive laws that restrict civil society and activism in the country.

( With inputs from ANI )