High-powered Nicaraguan canal delegation quietly visits mainland China

Observers say switch of diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing not in the mainland’s interest

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Published: 10:45am, 29 Oct 2013Updated: 2:52pm, 29 Oct 2013

A top-level Nicaraguan delegation - headed by the president’s son - travelled to mainland China and Hong Kong last week to discuss what could be the world’s largest waterway project, the has learned.

The 21 politicians, academics and leading businessmen were hosted by HKND, the Hong Kong-based developer established only last year, which has been tasked by the Nicaraguan government to build a US$40 billion (HK$310 billion) canal through the Central American country.

Laureno Facundo Ortega Murillo, the son of Nicaragua’s president Daniel Ortega, led the group, which travelled to Beijing, Wuhan, Xuzhou and Hong Kong.

Young Ortega is also a presidential adviser on foreign investment and, according to Nicaraguan press reports, his mediation was instrumental in completing the canal deal. He declined to be interviewed for this article when approached by the through intermediaries.

The Hong Kong-based company’s chairman Wang Jing, 41, insisted that his momentous canal project is strictly commercial; “I hoped this visit was relatively low-key,” he told the . The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing was also keen to clarify earlier this year that the canal project was not government-backed.

We are in a special moment in China and in Nicaragua. We are starting a new historical phase that is going to see closer relations

Nicaraguan delegation member Francisco Telemaco Talavera Siles

Those plans do, however, have diplomatic implications. Nicaragua is one of just 23 countries currently recognising the Taiwan-based Republic of China (ROC) as the seat of China’s legitimate government.