SALVADORAN -CHINA- SUMMARIES

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) and El Salvador's Foreign Minister
 Carlos Castaneda attend a signing ceremony to establish diplomatic
 ties between the two countries, at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in
Beijing, China August 21, 2018. REUTERS/Jason Lee

IN AUGUST, EI Salvador broke ties with Taiwan to establish relations with China, following the Dominican Republic and Panama.

Chine later offered EI Salvador about $150 million for social projects and 3,000 tons of rice to feed the thousands of Salvadorans struck by drought.

The White House warned in August that China was luring countries with incentives that ''facilitates economic dependence and domination not partnership.''

SALVADORAN President-elect Nayib Bukele will assess whether the country should maintain diplomatic relations with China, a member of his team said recently, less that a year after the outgoing government broke ties with Taiwan.

During the campaign, Bukele, who emerged victorious at the polls as an outsider candidate, was critical of the benefits that EI Salvador received after establishing diplomatic relations with China.

Fedrico Ahliker, a close member of the Bukele team and secretary general of his New Ideas party, said the incoming administration would investigate why the outgoing government forged ties with China.

''With the issue of  China, China-Taiwan relations, we have to study them and put them in the balance - what is best for the nation, not what is best for the political party, as the [outgoing administration] did,'' Anliker told local media.

''We were not consulted, nor did they give us the reasons [for establishing] relations with China. Now we have to investigate in detail,'' he continued. [Agencies]