In an announcement Tuesday, Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela announced his government was establishing diplomatic relations with rival mainland China, calling it a "true country".
Panamanian president Juan Carlos Varela speaks during the Summit for Refugees and Migrants at United Nations headquarters, Monday, Sept. 19, 2016.
It adds that Panama recognizes only one legitimate China and that Taiwan "forms an inalienable part of Chinese territory".
Panama is the latest among the handful of countries that had maintained ties with Taipei instead of Beijing to switch sides.
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Taiwan had as many as 30 diplomatic allies in the mid-1990s, and its remaining formal ties are with mostly smaller and poorer nations in Latin America and the Pacific.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a meeting here with his Panamanian counterpart Isabel Saint Malo de Alvarado, also Panama's vice president, and they signed the joint communique.
"The Government of the Republic of Panama this very day breaks its "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan, and commits to leaving behind all official relations or contact with Taiwan", it continued. Earmarked at a cost of $50 billion, the Nicaraguan scheme was met with widespread incredulity when it was announced in 2013, and critics have raised questions about its feasibility.
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