The Republic of Nicaragua severed ties with Taiwan on December 9 and established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. The decision is a major blow to Taiwan, which is now only recognized by 13 nations and the Vatican. Meanwhile, the People’s Republic of China is recognized by 178 nations (including Nicaragua).

Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Chinese Communist Party regard Taiwan as a breakaway province and are pressuring as many nations as possible into severing ties with Taiwan. Nicaragua’s decision to switch its allegiance is a sign of the deep inroads China is making into Latin America, at the expense of the United States. The only nations in Latin America to still recognize Taiwan are Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Paraguay, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

Although the U.S. is one of the 178 nations to officially recognize the People’s Republic of China as the legitimate representative of the Chinese people, it has also been a major supporter of Taiwan (selling it billions of dollars’ worth of weaponry each year). Consequently, China’s gains in Latin America are likely aimed at America.

During U.S. President Donald Trump’s second year in office, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton warned that Nicaragua had already turned against the United States. “In Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, we see the perils of poisonous ideologies left unchecked, and the dangers of domination and suppression,” he told a group of Cuban and Venezuelan refugees at the Freedom Tower in Miami on Nov. 1, 2018. “This troika of tyranny, this triangle of terror stretching from Havana to Caracas to Managua, is the cause of immense human suffering, the impetus of enormous regional instability, and the genesis of a sordid cradle of communism in the Western Hemisphere.”

Russia is now helping Nicaragua modernize its military, and China is signing economic agreements with Barbados, Cuba, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Panama, Venezuela and other nations. These are steps toward establishing a strong economic and military presence in America’s backyard. What happens when a financial crunch forces the U.S. to drastically cut military spending? There are strong signs this will happen soon, at which point the alliances Russia and China are forging in the Caribbean Sea will give them great power over the sea-lanes leading to America.

Half of America’s seaborne trade passes through the Gulf of Mexico. A hostile foreign power controlling the Caribbean Sea could cripple the U.S. economy by restricting or even stopping its access to oceanic shipping.

Some 2,700 years ago, God inspired the Prophet Isaiah to write about a vast trade bloc—“a mart of nations”—that would form in the end time (Isaiah 23:3). Verse 1 shows that a lead nation in this trade bloc would be “Chittim.”

Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry explains in Isaiah’s End-Time Vision that Chittim is an ancient name for China. Another entity in the trade bloc is “Tyre.” Mr. Flurry explains that this represents “the commercial center” of Europe. A passage in Ezekiel 27 also mentions ancient names for Russia (Tubal and Meshech) in association with this mart.

“With a German-led Europe (the king of the north) possessing great maritime power, North America will be surrounded on the east by Europe and the south by Latin America,” Mr. Flurry writes. “The Bible contains many prophecies of that European power attacking America—and many other prophecies of America being besieged.”

“[T]he giants of Asia” will form a “brief alliance” with Europe, he continues. “Should Europe, the resurrected Holy Roman Empire, find a way to take advantage—even for a moment—of key resources and strategic holdings of China, Russia and Japan, it would have more than enough power to besiege the Anglo-Saxon nations and enslave them.”

Mr. Flurry draws particular attention to Latin American due to its proximity to the United States. “Herbert Armstrong long prophesied, and we expect, the alliance between Europe and South America to grow extremely strong,” he writes. Europe wields considerable influence in Latin America, so once Russia and China enter into an alliance with Europe, the influence these powers exert in Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela will translate over to the mart of nations.

The book of Deuteronomy provides even more details about the coming besiegement of the United States.

“The Lord shall bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as swift as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand …. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fenced walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land: and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which the Lord thy God hath given thee” (Deuteronomy 28:49, 52).

A “gate” is a passage of entrance or exit. When speaking nationally, a sea gate is a choke point like the Straits of Florida, the Windward Passage, the Yucatan Channel or the Panama Canal. God gave America these gates and many others, ensuring that it would become an economic and military superpower. But God also warned that if America did not obey Him, then not only would these gates be taken away but they would be used against it!

For more information about what the Bible prophesies concerning the Panama Canal, please read both Isaiah’s End-Time Vision and China’s Dangerous Move Against America, by Gerald Flurry.