Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere is of “grave concern” to President Trump, the White House warned after El Salvador established diplomatic relations with the Communist power.
El Salvador severed ties with the Taiwanese government in order to form a relationship with the People’s Republic of China, which regards Taiwan as a breakaway island led by separatist forces. The swap was a symbolic blow to Taiwan, and it also expands Chinese influence in Central America at the potential expense of the United States.
“The United States will continue to oppose China’s destabilization of the cross-Strait relationship and political interference in the Western Hemisphere,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a late Thursday bulletin.
China has waged an aggressive campaign to isolate Taiwan diplomatically, while increasing saber-rattling in the Straits of Taiwan. Officially, the United States does not recognize Taiwan as an independent nation — a legacy of Jimmy Carter’s outreach to China during the Cold War — but maintains unofficial ties and provides defense equipment to help Taiwan resist any forcible reunification with mainland China.
“The leaders of El Salvador’s governing party have made this decision, which will have implications for decades to come, in a non-transparent fashion only months before they leave office,” Sanders said. “This is a decision that affects not just El Salvador, but also the economic health and security of the entire Americas region.”
Salvadoran officials defended the switch by citing the economic benefits of trade with China. “We cannot turn our back on the world, ignore that China is the second-largest power in the world and the leading export economy on the planet,” Roberto Lorenzana, a spokesman for Salvadoran President Salvador Sanchez Ceren said. “It is key for our country.”
But U.S. officials have been traveling the world warning against China’s “predatory economics,” which can involve making massive infrastructure loans to countries that can’t repay the debt and subsequently lose sovereignty over the project.
“Countries seeking to establish or expand relations with China in order to attract state-directed investment that will stimulate short-term economic growth and infrastructure development may be disappointed over the long run,” Sanders said. “Around the world, governments are waking up to the fact that China’s economic inducements facilitate economic dependency and domination, not partnership.”
