September 20, 2018
Prosecutors in El Salvador to investigate the alleged graft of some $10 million in funds donated by Taiwan.
El Salvador announced it would sever ties with Taiwan and switch its allegiance to Beijing on 21th August. The loss of the Central American country reduces the number of Taiwan’s formal diplomatic allies to just 17.
Now the current president of El Salvador, Sanchez Ceren, is accused that he won the election by relying on partial fund which was donated by Taiwan in 2014.
Prosecutor Douglas Melendez said in a TV interview that Taiwan gave $38 million to El Salvador for various projects, but the fund was used in a partisan campaign by Mauricio Funes in election won by current President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, the presidential candidate of the FMLN party in 2014.
The FMLN party calling the accusations “baseless” and accusing Melendez of “attacking our candidate and our party in a slanderous and irresponsible way.”
The ministry of Foreign affairs of Taiwan denied it ever involved into presidential election of El Salvador.
El Salvador will hold a presidential election next year(2019), such political conflicts are not rarely seen in any democratic country especially before elections.
However, there is no diplomatic relation between Taiwan and El Salvador anymore.
Besides dragging Taiwan with El Salvador’s political disputes, it’s also quite ironic because even El Salvador itself also admitted that Taiwan did aid it a lot in the past.
– The China Post