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.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
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