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Taiwan, Guatemala leaders hold bilateral talks in Taipei

ROC Central News Agency

04/25/2023 08:56 PM

Taipei, April 25 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and her Guatemalan counterpart Alejandro Giammattei held bilateral talks in Taipei on Tuesday.

The friendship between the Republic of China (ROC), Taiwan's official name, and Guatemala is "enduring" and "unbreakable," Giammattei told Tsai during their talks at the Presidential Office.

The meeting was held behind closed doors and a readout including remarks made by the two leaders at the beginning of the talks was provided by the Presidential Office afterwards.

Giammattei was also presented with a medal by Tsai in recognition of his contributions to the promotion of relations between Taiwan and the Central American nation.

Since his arrival in Taiwan on Monday, the Guatemalan leader, who took office in January 2020 for a four-year term, has repeatedly expressed his government's support for the Central American nation's nearly nine decades of diplomatic ties with the ROC (Taiwan).

Relations between the two countries, according to Giammattei, have been based on steady and long-term diplomatic engagement, and broad cooperation on trade, education and other issues.

Giammattei's visit to Taiwan from April 24-27 comes just one month after another Central American nation, Honduras, switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Honduras' severing of ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing, the ninth country to do so since Tsai took office in 2016, means that only 13 states now maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

In his remarks, Giammattei said the ROC should be included in the United Nations as a full member, adding that the country's sovereignty, independence and autonomy should be recognized and supported by the international community.

After the U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution in October 1971 to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only lawful representative of China in the U.N., the ROC declared its withdrawal from the body. Since then, the country has been unable to take part in the UN systems as a member state.

In recent years, Taipei has also found itself increasingly left out of the U.N. mechanisms and affiliated agencies as Beijing ramped up efforts to isolate Taiwan from the international community.

Apart from expressing support for Taiwan, the Guatemalan leader also expressed hope that his current visit would foster more exchanges between the two countries in political, economic, and culture areas, without elaborating.

Meanwhile, Tsai said promoting bilateral economic and trade ties is a shared goal for both Taiwan and Guatemala.

Tsai thanked Giammattei for his staunch support for Taiwan, adding that she looked forward to seeing bilateral cooperation in various fields deepened in the future.

(By Teng Pei-ju)

Enditem/AW