Taiwan and Guatemala yesterday signed two agreements to boost cooperation on semiconductors and establish a new mechanism for political consultations, as President William Lai (賴清德) met with Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
The two countries will continue to build a mutually beneficial partnership in the face of mounting global challenges, Lai said, adding that the agreements would create new opportunities for cooperation.
Arevalo, accompanied by his wife, and foreign and economic ministers, arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday for his first visit to the nation since taking office last year.
Photo: The Presidential Office via AP
Last year also marked the 90th anniversary of diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Guatemala, one of Taiwan’s 12 diplomatic allies at the UN.
This week’s visit reaffirms the two nations’ close ties and marks a “new level” in the bilateral relationship focused on expanding economic cooperation, solidifying an economic trade partnership and investing in educational opportunities for the citizens of both countries, Arevalo said.
“On behalf of the people of Guatemala, I extend our hand to the people of Taiwan with the confidence that we will walk together along the path toward shared well-being, which we will make more profound and more comprehensive today,” he said.
“Our two countries are geographically distant, but the ideals and values of the two peoples are closely intertwined,” Lai said, adding that the long-standing partnership reflects their shared commitment to democracy, freedom and human rights.
Ties have grown closer in the past few years, bringing a multitude of successes as cooperation expanded and diversified in the fields of health and sanitation, education and culture, science and technology, and economic trade, he said.
Taiwan will continue to work closely with Guatemala to provide youth exchange programs and scholarships to foster exceptional talent in science, technology and communications, he added.
Lai encouraged Taiwanese businesses to invest in Guatemala and utilize its strategic location, natural resources and strong workforce to improve supply chain resilience and promote bilateral relations.
The delegation is this week to visit Hsinchu Science Park (新竹科學園區) and the headquarters of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電).
Guatemala last month sent a mission of 28 engineers to Taiwan for a three-week intensive training program in semiconductors.
Speaking to the Central News Agency on Wednesday evening, Arevalo said that his ongoing Taiwan trip is intended to take the decades-long historical ties between the two allies “to the next level” by enhancing economic and trade relations.
Arevalo said that his administration has been developing what he called “a new chapter in Guatemala-Taiwan relations.”
Elaborating on what he meant by the next level in bilateral relations, Arevalo said it means allowing both societies “to become much more intertwined,” including by “tightening the economic and, of course, commercial relations between our countries.”
Since taking office, Arevalo’s administration has been working with Taiwanese counterparts to identify areas to collaborate.
Both governments consider semiconductor and supply chain cooperation to be perfect for expanded collaboration and growth, Arevalo said.
“We believe that we can follow Taiwan’s very unique and important experience in building its own way into the high-tech industry,” he said.
In addition to high-tech cooperation, Arevalo said his country is also in talks with Taiwanese textile companies that are planning investments in Guatemala.
Arevalo said his country’s strategic location in Central America can serve as a bridge between Latin America and the US.
“So we believe that that is something that we can expand so that Guatemala can be made into, as you said, a niche with importance not only for itself and for its people, but for the whole economic development of the region,” he said.
Asked to say a few words to Taiwanese, the Guatemalan president said he is in Taiwan “to celebrate a long-standing friendship” and because Guatemala wants to be part of making these historical links “even stronger and more productive for the good of both our peoples.”
Following his Taipei trip, the Guatemalan leader is to visit Japan to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
He is to attend Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan, meet the emperor of Japan and hold an official summit with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba while in Tokyo, the Guatemalan government said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
RSS