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.
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