China-El Salvador relations

Diplomatic ties between China and El Salvador were first established on August 21, 2018.[3] China's State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with El Salvador Foreign Minister Carlos Castaneda and signed a joint communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations, deciding to recognize each other and establish diplomatic relations at an ambassadorial level from the date of the communique's signing.[3][4] The government of El Salvador has ultimately severed diplomatic ties with the Republic of China, as a result of the Central American state recognizing the One-China policy.[5][6]

China exported US$1.5 billion of goods to El Salvador and imported US$105 million in 2019. The major commodities exported by China to El Salvador are machinery, textiles, plastic and rubbers, and various miscellaneous items. While the major commodities that El Salvador exports to China are electrical capacitors, raw sugar, and coffee. Between 1995 and 2019, exports from El Salvador to China have increased at an annualized rate of 14.7%, while exports from China to El Salvador have increased at an annualized rate of 16.6%.[7]

Upon Nayib Bukele's visit to China in 2019, he had signed a series of MoUs with Xi Jinping, in which China would promise El Salvador a total of US$500 million in development projects. These projects include a new national football stadium, a new US$40 million national library, a tourist pier in La Libertad and Ilopango, and US$200 million on the "Surf City" project, thereby involving El Salvador in China's Belt and Road Initiative.[8][9]

China offered El Salvador around US$150 million in social projects and 3,000 tons of rice to thousands of Salvadorian victims to droughts.[10]

Nayib Bukele announced on Twitter that a cooperation project granted by the People's Republic of China will have US$54 million new national library be built in El Salvador.[11] The Salvadoran President later announced on December 30, 2021 that the 50,000-capacity Estadio Nacional de El Salvador will be built to replace Estadio Cuscatlán as El Salvador's national football stadium, at a cost of US$100 million, in collaboration with China.[12][13][14]

The COVID-19 pandemic in El Salvador saw vaccine diplomacy increase between China and El Salvador. El Salvador received from China 150,000 vaccine doses of the CoronaVac vaccine donated by China, on top of 2 million Sinovac vaccines that the Central American nation had purchased.[15]