Paraguay’s new government would maintain ties with Taiwan, even at the cost of its relationship with China, Paraguayan Minister of Foreign Affairs Ruben Ramirez Lezcano said on Friday.
Paraguay is the only South American country that recognizes Taiwan diplomatically, and one of just 13 around the world.
Under China’s “one China” policy, it does not allow countries to recognize both Beijing and Taipei.
Photo: AFP
“We have no problem relating to mainland China as long as it is without conditions,” Ramirez said, three days after Paraguayan President Santiago Pena was inaugurated.
“And China establishes conditions, such as breaking diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and Paraguay does not accept that,” added Ramirez, an economist who previously served as foreign minister from 2006 to 2008.
“The relationship with Taiwan is not only based on tradition, but on institutional democratic values,” he said.
Latin America has been a key diplomatic battleground for China and Taiwan. In March, Honduras became the latest country to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of Beijing.
Ramirez also said he would move to normalize Paraguay’s relations with Israel and Venezuela.
Paraguay is preparing to reopen embassies in Jerusalem and Caracas, he said.
Paraguay moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018.
After then-Paraguayan president Mario Abdo took office a few months later, the embassy was moved back to Tel Aviv, angering Israel, which reacted by closing its embassy in Asuncion.
Paraguay broke off relations with Venezuela in January 2019, in rejection of the swearing-in of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
At the time, most Latin American countries, as well as the US and the EU, did not recognize the validity of the elections in which Maduro had been re-elected.
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