El Salvador denies asking Taiwan for money before switching allegiance to China

Salvadoran authorities on Tuesday denied having asked Taiwan for money in exchange for maintaining diplomatic relations with the self-governing island, saying its decision to switch recognition to China was due to the enormous advantages of trading with the economic giant.To get more chinese news in english, you can visit shine news official website.
In an interview with state television, presidential spokesman Roberto Lorenzana called Taiwan’s allegations “base” and “totally false”, noting that other countries have opted to have diplomatic and commercial relations with Beijing.
“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,” Lorenzana said. “It is key for our country.”
President Salvador Sanchez Ceren announced on Monday night in a televised address that his country would break from more than 80 years of relations with Taipei and immediately switch to Beijing.China considers Taiwan a renegade province, and the two have long competed with so-called dollar diplomacy – funding public works projects such as stadiums, for example – to secure recognition from other nations. With El Salvador’s switch, 16 small countries plus the Vatican currently recognise Taiwan.
The move prompted the US ambassador to El Salvador, Jean Manes, to tweet late on Monday that the decision “is worrisome for many reasons” and “without doubt this will impact our relationship with the government”.
Florida Senator Marco Rubio threatened to block funding for El Salvador, accusing it of being “against the US on everything”.
“Why should we keep sending them so much foreign aid? Today I will begin work to end that,” Rubio said via Twitter.The United States formally recognises only China, but it maintains a de facto embassy known as the American Institute in Taiwan. Taipei has a similar quasi-diplomatic outpost in Washington.
The position from Taiwan is that the government of the FMLN (Sanchez Ceren’s political party) asked it for money to finance the campaign in 2019,” said lawmaker Margarita Escobar of the conservative Arena party.
“That is called selling sovereignty and allowing another state to intervene in the internal affairs of El Salvador.”
“I do not support this erroneous decision,” said Guillermo Gallegos of the Grand Alliance for National Unity. “I would qualify it as sad and regrettable.”