Seven US senators on Thursday sent a joint letter to Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo urging him to continue supporting Taiwan, despite pressure from China.
US senators Marco Rubio, Jeff Merkley, Charles Grassley, Tim Kaine, John Boozman, Roger Wicker and Steve Daines sent the letter to urge Arevalo to “not succumb to pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and instead continue to recognize and support Taiwan,” Rubio’s office said in a press release.
After assuming office in the middle of January, Arevalo vowed to pursue closer economic links with China, which caused concerns over the possibility that the Central American country might sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Arevalo later publicly reaffirmed that he had no intention of breaking diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but sought to boost ties with both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
“The Government of Guatemala reaffirms its commitment to continue strengthening diplomatic ties, cooperation and friendship with the Republic of China (Taiwan),” the Guatemalan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Feb. 7.
The senators commended the reaffirmation, saying that by doing so, Guatemala has demonstrated its allegiance to democratic values and solidarity with democratic nations.
They praised Arevalo’s leadership and urged him to “remain steadfast in your support for Taiwan.”
“In the face of increasing coercion and economic inducements from the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] against several democratic nations around the world, Guatemala’s steadfast dedication to maintaining formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan stands as a beacon of courage and integrity,” the letter reads.
“We stand united in our support for Guatemala’s democratic principles and your efforts to resist external pressures that seek to undermine those principles,” it says.
Beijing is “the gravest threat to core democratic values” around the world, the senators said, adding that Chinese foreign direct investment to Latin America has more than halved from 2019 to 2022, despite promises of financial assistance it made to countries in exchange for diplomatic ties with them.
China has been known to make empty promises to lure Taiwan’s diplomatic allies away and suppress its diplomatic space, with the most recent example being Nauru, which switched recognition to China two days after Taiwan’s presidential and legislative elections in January.
In other news, US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and German Foreign Office State Secretary Thomas Bagger reiterated the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
In Campbell’s call with Bagger, the two reiterated “the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.
They also underlined their “committed support for Ukraine” amid Russia’s war and discussed efforts to contain the conflict in the Middle East, Miller said.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked Campbell and Bagger for their support, adding that Beijing’s provocative actions attempting to undermine the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait pose a threat to regional security and have caused grave concern in the international community.
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