El Salvador's Foreign Minister Carlos Castaneda stands during a signing ceremony to establish diplomatic relations between El Salvador and China, as the Central American nation ditched Taiwan in yet another victory for Beijing. | Wang Zhao/Getty Images White House scolds El Salvador for forging closer ties with China

The White House late Thursday harshly criticized El Salvador, a free trade partner of the United States, for its decision to abandon diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China.

"This is a decision that affects not just El Salvador, but also the economic health and security of the entire Americas region," White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement. "The El Salvadoran government's receptiveness to China's apparent interference in the domestic politics of a Western Hemisphere country is of grave concern to the United States, and will result in a reevaluation of our relationship with El Salvador."


Sanders did not say what consequences El Salvador might face as a result of the decision, but warned "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."

El Salvador and four other countries in South America have duty-free access to the United States for most of their goods under a free trade agreement narrowly approved by Congress in 2005.

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The Trump administration's hard line on China, especially with trade and tariff policies, seems to be partly the reason for the rare public rebuke.

"Around the world, governments are waking up to the fact that China's economic inducements facilitate economic dependency and domination, not partnership. The United States will continue to oppose China's destabilization of the cross-Strait relationship and political interference in the Western Hemisphere," Sanders added.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang responded in Beijing by urging countries to respect El Salvador's sovereign decision, saying its new ties with China were "perfectly justified" and "open and above board," according to an article in the South China Morning Post. "Some countries are making irresponsible remarks about whether this will interfere with El Salvador's domestic affairs, but I believe it is obvious who is politically interfering in the region," Lu said.

