Taiwan appealing to Guatemalan presidential candidates to keep diplomatic ties: MOFA
ROC Central News Agency
06/29/2023 12:45 PM
Taipei, June 29 (CNA) Taiwan is seeking the support of the two leading presidential candidates in Guatemala for continued bilateral diplomatic relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) in Taipei said Thursday, when asked about one of the frontrunners' recent comment that he would pursue closer ties with China if he wins.
MOFA spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) told CNA that Taiwan, through its embassy in Guatemala, has extended congratulations to the two frontrunners, who emerged after the June 25 first-round election and are set to compete in the runoff in August.
Former Guatemalan first lady Sandra Torres, the candidate of the National Unity of Hope party, had said earier in an interview with Japanese media that if elected president, she would bolster Guatemala's diplomatic and commercial ties with Taiwan and consider establishing a special economic zone, with preferential taxes, to attract more Taiwanese investment to her country.
Bernardo Arevalo of the social democratic party Movimiento Semilla, however, said this week that if he wins in August, he would pursue closer links with China.
"We need to work on our trade relations and expand them in the case of China," Arevalo, a 64-year-old center-left congressman and son of a former president, said in an interview that aired Tuesday on the Con Criterio radio program in his country.
Guatemala needs a foreign policy based on it interests, said Arevalo, who scored a surprise performance in the first-round, as he was polling in eighth place among the cluster of candidates in the presidential election.
"Let's be the owners of our foreign policy," he said, adding that no one else should dictate his country's position.
Arevalo also said he would also seek "to maintain good political relations with the Republic of China in Taiwan, within the framework of mutual respect."
Asked to comment on Arevalo's statements, MOFA spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) told CNA Thursday that the ministry is paying close attention to the latest developments leading up to the Aug. 20 presidential runoff in Guatemala.
MOFA will continue to highlight to both presidential candidates "the results of the cooperation between Taiwan and Guatemala and to actively seek their support" for maintaining the bilateral ties, Liu said.
Taiwan will also continue to work closely with the Guatemalan government on all cooperation projects for the benefit of the people in both countries, no matter who wins the upcoming Guatemalan presidential runoff, he said.
The runoff has become necessary as none of the candidates gained 50 percent of the vote in the June 25 election. The two frontrunners, Torres and Arevalo, obtained 15 percent and 12 percent of the vote, respectively.
Guatemala has maintained diplomatic relations with the Republic of China -- Taiwan's official name -- since 1933 and is currently one of only 13 countries worldwide that does so.
Taiwan has lost nine diplomatic allies since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) assumed office in May 2016, with the most recent loss occurring in March when Honduras switched diplomatic allegiance to the People's Republic of China.
Honduras was also the fifth Latin American country to switch ties to Beijing since Tsai took office.
Tsai's administration has come under pressure due to its refusal to accept a compromise agreement between Taiwan's previous Kuomintang administration and China, under which they acknowledged that there was only "one China," with each side free to interpret what "one China" meant.
Beijing, however, has never publicly recognized the second part of that interpretation.
(By Joseph Yeh)
Enditem/pc
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