Paraguay President-elect Peña 'determined' to keep diplomatic ties with Taiwan
ROC Central News Agency
07/15/2023 08:26 PM
Taipei, July 15 (CNA) Visiting Paraguayan President-elect Santiago Peña said Saturday that he is "determined" to maintain the existing diplomatic relations with Taiwan during his upcoming five-year tenure, and those bilateral ties will not be compromised by his country's trade links with China.
"Paraguay is a relatively small country that needs to integrate to the world. We will love to do more trade with the People's Republic of China (PRC), as we would like to have more trade with any other country," Peña said at a press conference in Taipei at the conclusion of his five-day visit.
He added, however, that Paraguay's relations with Taiwan are "not subject to any diplomatic limitation" because of its strong trade and economic relations with China.
"If a country says that they are not going to do business with us because we have relations with Taiwan, we will continue our relations with Taiwan, and we will do business with whoever wants [to do business]," Peña said.
China has made the severance of ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan) a prerequisite for any country that wishes to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing.
Currently, Paraguay is one of the 13 independent states that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and it remains the only one in South America, after Uruguay switched diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing in 1988.
According to Peña, Paraguay has not been pressured by any neighboring nations into making a diplomatic switch, as he has made his position clear to them, especially to Brazil, which is his country's largest trading partner and a strong ally of China.
"I can tell you that I haven't felt any pressure, and probably they haven't pressured [me], because they know my position," he said at the press event, which was also attended by incoming First Lady of Paraguay Leticia Ocampos and Foreign Minister-designate Rubén Ramírez Lezcano.
Meanwhile, in response to a reporter's question, Peña said his delegation had not had any specific talks with the Taiwan government about financial aid, and that the two sides would have lots of opportunities to discuss various agendas in the future.
Peña arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday, at the head of a delegation that included incoming Presidential Chief Secretary Lea Giménez Duarte, Finance Minister-designate Carlos Fernández Valdovinos, and incoming Industry Minister Francisco Javier Giménez García de Zúñiga.
During his meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday, Peña said he was looking forward to Taiwan's continued support, as his administration would be striving to reduce poverty and bring about industrial development in the country.
According to Peña, his administration's goals include creating at least 500,000 jobs and rolling out a plan that would allow some 200,000 Paraguayans to get loans to improve their housing over the next five years.
As to what he thinks Taiwan can do to help achieve these goals, Peña said Friday he hoped to see more Taiwanese business and financial institutions in Paraguay.
The president-elect, a former economist who served as Paraguay's finance minister 2015-2017, is scheduled to be sworn in on August 15.
He received nearly 44 percent of the vote in Paraguay's presidential election in April, winning by a double-digit margin over his main rival Efrain Alegre, who during his election campaign had pledged to switch diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing.
On Saturday, Peña said he did not know "who will be on the [Taiwanese] delegation" to his inauguration in Asunción in mid-August.
In June, the Wall Street Journal cited unnamed sources as saying that Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), the Democratic Progressive Party's 2024 presidential candidate, had been tapped to lead the Taiwan delegation to Peña's inauguration ceremony.
At the time, however, the Presidential Office in Taipei said the vice president "currently does not have any plans to travel overseas."
(By Teng Pei-ju)
Enditem/pc
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