Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) is said to attend the inauguration ceremony of Guatemalan president-elect Bernardo Arevalo on Sunday, Guatemalan newspaper La Hora reported.
When reached for confirmation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said it is making plans for senior officials to attend the ceremony and is to announce the arrangement at an appropriate time.
As Arevalo has repeatedly stated that he is to maintain his country’s diplomatic ties with Taiwan, the nation is expected to continue deepening cooperation with Guatemala based on the existing foundation to pursue the greatest welfare for their peoples, the ministry added.
Photo: Reuters
Nominated by the Movimiento Semilla party, or Seed Movement, to run in the Guatemalan presidential election in August last year, Arevalo clinched a victory with his anti-corruption promise. His win was followed by attempts to annul the election result at the Guatemalan Supreme Electoral Tribunal due to alleged irregularities, but the tribunal maintained that the results are “unalterable.” Arevalo called the attempts a coup d’etat.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse published on Dec. 20 last year, Arevalo said that he would assume power on Sunday and govern without fear, after having “blocked” the coup.
“We are not going to leave relations with Taiwan, we are going to maintain them,” he was quoted as saying.
Following Honduras’ decision to cut ties with Taiwan in March last year, Taipei was left with 13 diplomatic allies, with Guatemala and Belize being the only Central American countries.
Evan Ellis, a researcher at the US Army War College’s Strategic Studies Institute, was cited by Spanish-language online news outlet Infobae on Dec. 23 last year as saying that Arevalo is likely to take office as scheduled, “but his constant struggle with elites who take advantage of their control of institutions to politically disqualify him and his party may radicalize him to the left.”
The Central American country might be isolated by the US and European countries if he is overthrown, which would likely bring a radical left regime to power and lead to worrying consequences, he was cited as saying.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS