Relations between Taiwan and Panama remain strong, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday in response to a Panamanian news report claiming Beijing had rejected Panamanian President Ricardo Martinelli's offer to switch diplomatic allegiance.
The report said Costa Rican President Oscar Arias had revealed in a recent meeting with former Colombian foreign minister Maria Emma Mejia that Martinelli had approached China with the intention of breaking ties with Taiwan.
Martinelli reportedly told Arias, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who led his country in terminating its 60-year friendship with Taipei in 2007, that Panama wanted to follow San Jose's example.
The Chinese rejected his offer, however, saying it was not interested in expanding its diplomatic relations in the region at the moment and told Martinelli to “stay calm,” the report said.
It said Martinelli made the move despite the fact that Taiwan had already agreed to donate US$22 million to procure a presidential jet for Panama.
Panamanian Vice President and Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela was quoted in a separate report as saying that “Panama is a sovereign country that does not need to seek permission to make its own decisions.”
Without rejecting Arias' claim as quoted in the report, Varela said his government was interested in forging closer commercial ties with China, especially in the Colon Free Zone.
“We have always been willing to maintain these relationships with Mainland China, but now there is a diplomatic truce which we respect and support,” Varela said.
Ministry spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said the relationship between Taiwan and Panama was in tip-top shape, but acknowledged that several of the nation's 23 allies had considered jumping ship at the beginning of President Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) administration.
“But so far we have maintained all our allies and our relationships with them remain strong,” he said.
Martinelli, a business tycoon turn politician, has publicly advocated a stronger Panama-China alliance during his campaign.
The nation's other Latin American allies, such as Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo and Salvadoran President Mauricio Funes, have also made similar calls.
Panamanian Ambassador to Taiwan Mario Luis Cucalon D'anello said that when he read the news, he called his government to “find out the truth,” but could not get in touch with the appropriate channels in the foreign ministry because of the time difference.
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