Guatemalan president-elect Cesar Bernardo Arevalo de Leon on Tuesday said he has no intention of altering the status of his country’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but that he also wants to improve relations with China.
“We believe it is perfectly feasible to have good relations with both the [People’s] Republic of China and Taiwan,” Arevalo told Reuters in an interview.
Guatemala’s private sector is interested in expanding relations with China, which counts the Central American country as its main trade partner in the region, he added.
Photo: Reuters
It remains to be seen how Arevalo’s new government would navigate relations with both nations, given that China has made it a precondition for countries to cut diplomatic relations with Taipei before they can have closer relations with Beijing.
The 64-year-old former diplomat also said that he wants to work with the US to expand temporary work programs for Guatemalan migrants and increase US investment in the country’s poorest areas in a bid to reduce the number of people leaving.
The center-left politician and son of former Guatemalan president Juan Jose Arevalo Bermejo won Sunday’s presidential runoff by a landslide, beating his closest rival, former first lady Sandra Torres Casanova.
Taipei congratulated Bernardo Arevalo de Leon after his win.
“I look forward to working with you in deepening Taiwan-Guatemala ties & furthering the prosperity of our peoples,” President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) wrote in Spanish on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ambassador to Guatemala Miguel Tsao (曹立傑) also congratulated Bernardo Arevalo de Leon on behalf of Tsai, Presidential Office spokeswoman Olivia Lin (林聿禪) said.
Asked on Tuesday whether Tsai or Vice President William Lai (賴清德) would attend the inauguration ceremony, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) did not give a direct answer, only saying that the government would definitely send a delegation to Guatemala after the inauguration date is announced.
Central America was once Taiwan’s staunchest base of diplomatic support, with all seven countries still recognizing Taiwan as of 2006.
However, Costa Rica severed ties in 2007, followed by Panama, El Salvador and Nicaragua in 2017, 2018 and 2021 respectively.
Following Honduras’ decision to cut ties with Taiwan in March, Taiwan was left with only 13 diplomatic allies, with Guatemala and Belize the only countries in Central America to maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei.
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