Paraguayan President Santiago Pena has pledged to continue enhancing cooperation with Taiwan, as he and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida expressed opposition to any unilateral change to the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait using force, Japanese media reported on Saturday.
Kishida yesterday completed a trip to France, Brazil and Paraguay, his first visit to South America since taking office in 2021.
After the Japanese leader and Pena spoke for more than an hour on Friday, exchanging views on the situation in East Asia in the face of China’s increasing military pressure on Taiwan, they affirmed that “unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force will not be tolerated,” the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Pena mentioned Taiwan during a joint news conference after their meeting.
“We have a long diplomatic relationship with Taiwan. We would like to continue to promote a wide-ranging cooperative partnership,” the Fuji News Network quoted Pena as saying.
The leaders agreed to work together to maintain and bolster a free and open international order, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
The importance of relations between Japan and Paraguay, which shares its values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, is increasing as the international community faces a number of crises, the paper quoted Kishida as saying.
The Paraguayan president also reaffirmed robust ties with Taiwan during an interview with the Yomiuri Shimbun on Thursday, saying that the South American country’s stance on Taiwan is unwavering.
He also said that the firmer his country is on maintaining relations with Taiwan, the more pressure it receives from other countries to break those ties.
For example, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva repeatedly suggested that Asuncion establish diplomatic relations with Beijing, he said.
During Paraguay’s presidential election last year, opposition candidates called for diplomatic ties with Taiwan to be severed, he said.
Some of the strongest opposition came from the domestic agricultural sector, as despite being a major exporter of soybeans and beef, Paraguay is unable to export beef to China and has to rely on third-party countries such as Argentina to export soybeans, he said.
Paraguay’s relationships with Japan and the US should serve as a backup force to help the country withstand pressure from home and abroad to switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing, Pena said.
“Supporting Paraguay is supporting Taiwan,” he added.
He said he hopes to prove that maintaining diplomatic relations with Taiwan is in the interest of his country, which can serve as an example for other countries to follow.
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
There is no need for one country to control the semiconductor industry, which is complex and needs a division of labor, Taiwan’s top technology official said yesterday after US President Donald Trump criticized the nation’s chip dominance. Trump repeated claims on Thursday that Taiwan had taken the industry and he wanted it back in the US, saying he aimed to restore US chip manufacturing. National Science and Technology Council Minister Wu Cheng-wen (吳誠文) did not name Trump in a Facebook post, but referred to President William Lai’s (賴清德) comments on Friday that Taiwan would be a reliable partner in the
RSS