The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on Monday extended Taiwan’s congratulations to Guatemalan president-elect Cesar Bernardo Arevalo de Leon.
The ministry said that Taiwan would seek to bolster cooperation and exchanges with the Central American country under Arevalo’s incoming administration, based on the shared values of democracy and freedom.
It congratulaed Guatemala on a successful election, adding that Taiwan’s embassy in Guatemala City had sent an official letter of congratulations to Arevalo’s camp after the Movimiento Semilla candidate declared victory in Sunday’s runoff election with more than 97 percent of votes counted.
Photo: Reuters
Arevalo had secured more than 58 percent of the ballot, giving him an unassailable lead over his closest rival, former first lady Sandra Torres Casanova, with 35 percent.
The 64-year-old president-elect is the son of former Guatemalan president Juan Jose Arevalo Bermejo, who led the country from 1945 to 1951.
Although he has said he is in favor of improving trade relations with China, Cesar Bernardo Arevalo de Leon said during a seminar organized by a US think tank last month that he would not switch Guatemala’s diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing if elected.
Maintaining diplomatic ties with Taiwan and seeking to improve trade relations with China are “completely compatible,” he added.
Guatemala is only one of 13 countries to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, having done so since 1933.
Since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) assumed office in May 2016, nine countries have severed diplomatic relations with Taipei, the most recent of which was Honduras, which switched recognition to Beijing in March.
Honduras was also the fifth Latin American country to switch ties to Beijing since Tsai took office.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about
RSS