A series of disputes between President Ma Ying-jeou’s security personnel and those of Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom marred Ma’s first day in Guatemala on Friday.
Presidential Office Spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said the first dispute arose when Ma’s bodyguards wanted to enter the security area where Colom was welcoming Ma with a 21-gun salute and a military honor guard. Guatemalan security personnel refused to allow them to enter.
Wang said security issues are usually negotiated beforehand, but the “misunderstanding” was the result of communication problems and the demand by all of Ma’s bodyguards to be allowed into the secure zone.
Photo: AP/ Guatemalan Foreign Ministry
After communicating through translators, three bodyguards were allowed in, Wang said.
A dispute over access arose again later that day when Ma and Colom were signing a joint statement.
Only one of Ma’s bodyguards was allowed to enter the secure area after he agreed to surrender his weapon.
Wang said security is usually arranged by the host country when two leaders attend the same event and the visiting leader’s security personnel usually do not carry weapons.
This policy would have been the same had the situation been reversed, he said.
Meanwhile, Colom canceled plans to accompany Ma on a visit to Tikal National Park on Saturday, sending his foreign minister and cultural vice minister in his place.
Wang said Colom had to cancel his trip to Tikal because he had other engagements.
Ma also canceled planned interviews with Guatemalan journalists, but Wang said they had been canceled prior to the trip.
In other developments, El Salvador’s incoming foreign minister, Hugo Martinez, said “necessary consultations and studies” were needed before his country would decide on establishing diplomatic ties with China.
Martinez told Diario Co Latino that Salvadoran president-elect Mauricio Funes would hold talks with “Taiwan President” Ma.
The newspaper said that although El Salvador intended to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing, Martinez declined to discuss in detail the new government’s position on its relations with Taiwan.
Martinez said both Taipei and Beijing had been invited to today’s inauguration and if both sides sent representatives, there would be “bilateral contacts.”
Ambassador to El Salvador Carlos Liao (廖世傑), however, has said that Beijing had not arranged to send a delegation before the registration deadline passed last Monday.
Martinez also told newspaper that Funes would announce in his inaugural address that his administration would resume recognition of Cuba.
Martinez said the lack of diplomatic ties with Cuba deprived Salvadorans of their right to engage in commercial, educational and medical exchanges with their Cuban counterparts.
Ma is leading a 159-member delegation to attend today’s inauguration, including first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青), local government heads, college officials, student representatives, and a performance group. The delegation arrived in El Salvador on Saturday.
Ma is scheduled to return to Taipei on Thursday after a transit stop in Seattle.
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