President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said on Thursday that Taiwan would launch new cooperation projects with Paraguay and may increase aid to the impoverished South American country.
Ma made the comments during a meeting with Paraguayan president-elect Fernando Lugo the day ahead of his swearing in, presidential office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) told reporters.
Ma also expressed Taiwan’s willingness to increase aid to the country in a joint interview with international news outlets and local media in Paraguay on Thursday.
“We can even increase the flow of aid,” Ma told reporters through a translator during his first official overseas trip since taking office, a report said.
The meeting came after relations between Taiwan and Paraguay appeared shaky as Lugo had said during his election campaign that he would establish diplomatic ties with China if he won.
Media reports from Paraguay said that vice president-elect Federico Franco had requested US$71 million in foreign aid from Taiwan and warned that if it did not receive the funds, it might sever ties with Taiwan before Lugo’s inauguration.
But on Wednesday before Ma’s arrival, Lugo said that his country would maintain ties with Taiwan.
Amid speculation about bilateral ties and donations, both leaders emphasized cordial relations between the two countries.
Wang said that during their meeting, Lugo told Ma that Taiwan was an important ally because it can help Paraguay tap the Asian markets.
At a luncheon with Taiwanese expatriates in Paraguay, Ma said that Taiwan could help Paraguay in technology, advancing land reform and development of its agriculture and fishery industries.
In an interview with the Taipei Times, Carlos Mateo Balmeui, assigned to head the ministry in charge of hydroelectric power plants, said he believed his country would maintain ties with Taiwan based on their 51-year friendship, though “President Lugo will make any decision.”
Balmeui has been to Taiwan five times and he is charged with the task of renegotiating what he called the “unequal treaties” on two dams the former Colorado Party government signed with Brazil and Argentina.
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