Paraguay is preparing to welcome President William Lai (賴清德) next month, Paraguayan President Santiago Pena said on Monday. Lai’s trip would likely involve transiting in the US.
Paraguay is one of only 12 countries to maintain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and the only one in South America.
Taiwanese media, citing an unnamed source, yesterday reported that Lai plans to make stopovers in New York and Dallas, Texas, during state visits next month to Taiwan’s allies in Central and South America, including Paraguay, Guatemala and Belize.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Visits by Taiwanese presidents to Central and South America always involve what are officially only stopovers in the US given the distance from Taiwan, but are often the most important parts of the trip, as Washington is the nation’s top international backer and arms supplier.
Pena, speaking at a bilateral investment conference in Asuncion, said that Lai would be coming next month.
“We are preparing anxiously and with much affection to receive President Lai in 30 days,” Pena told the conference, which Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) attended.
Photo: EPA
Belize is also to host Lai during a planned visit to the region, a government official told Reuters, without giving a date.
Taiwan has a handful of other allies in Latin America and the Caribbean, but several have cut ties in recent years in favor of relations with economic powerhouse China.
“This is to show the world that small countries have the capacity to become major global players,” Pena added.
Lai has yet to go to the US since US President Donald Trump took office for the second time earlier this year.
Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) declined to comment, except to say that it would make a public announcement if the visits are confirmed.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that diplomatic allies inviting the president to visit their country demonstrate their close relationship, and arranging officials’ overseas visits has always been an important job of the ministry.
It added that it has no information about presidential visits overseas, and any confirmed visit would be announced by the Presidential Office.
The US Department of State on Monday evening said that any stopovers by Lai would be “in line with past practice, and fully consistent with our long-standing policy.”
In an e-mailed response to the Central News Agency’s question about US policy on Taiwanese presidential transits, the US Department of State said that stopovers by high-level Taiwanese officials are “undertaken with consideration for the safety, comfort, convenience and dignity of the passenger.”
On Friday last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters after meeting with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) in Malaysia that Wang had not warned him against “welcoming” Lai.
Lai in December visited the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu and Palau, stopping over in Hawaii and Guam.
As then-president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) vice president, he had also attended Pena’s presidential inauguration in 2023, with a stopover in New York City.
Lai attended a Taiwanese diaspora event alongside then-American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chair Laura Rosenberger, former US secretary of homeland security Janet Napolitano and Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego.
That Washington allowed Lai to arrive via a regular China Airlines flight, deployed police to escort him to the hotel and arranged senior officials to accompany him to local events were considered visible signs of improved ties between Taiwan and the US.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said the party supports the president’s efforts to increase Taiwan’s visibility in the global arena.
However, the Lai administration would be solely responsible for whatever reception he receives during his US transit, he added.
Additional reporting Chen Yun, Lin Hsin-han and Jonathan Chin
‘A SERIOUS THREAT’: Japan has expressed grave concern over the Strait’s security over the years, which demonstrated Tokyo’s firm support for peace in the area, an official said China’s military drills around Taiwan are “incompatible” with peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi (王毅) on Thursday. “Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is important for the international community, including Japan,” Iwaya told Wang during a meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN-related Foreign Ministers’ Meetings in Kuala Lumpur. “China’s large-scale military drills around Taiwan are incompatible with this,” a statement released by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday cited Iwaya as saying. The Foreign Ministers’ Meetings are a series of diplomatic
‘REALISTIC’ APPROACH: The ministry said all the exercises were scenario-based and unscripted to better prepare personnel for real threats and unexpected developments The army’s 21st Artillery Command conducted a short-range air defense drill in Taoyuan yesterday as part of the Han Kuang exercises, using the indigenous Sky Sword II (陸射劍二) missile system for the first time in the exercises. The armed forces have been conducting a series of live-fire and defense drills across multiple regions, simulating responses to a full-scale assault by Chinese forces, the Ministry of National Defense said. The Sky Sword II missile system was rapidly deployed and combat-ready within 15 minutes to defend Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in a simulated attack, the ministry said. A three-person crew completed setup and
DRILLS FOR 10 DAYS: The exercises would continue around the clock under realistic conditions taking into account all possibilities, the defense ministry said Taiwan yesterday launched its largest-ever military drills intended to guard against Chinese threats to invade, including using “gray zone” tactics deployed by China that stop just short of open warfare. This year’s 10-day live-fire Han Kuang exercises are the longest yet and follow the delivery of a range of new weaponry from tanks to uncrewed waterborne drones. The drills began with exercises to counter the actions of China Coast Guard and maritime militia ships that have been harassing Taiwanese vessels around outlying islands close to the Chinese coast, the Ministry of National Defense said. Cyberattacks and misinformation campaigns are seen by Taiwan as
URBAN COMBAT: FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired missiles from the US made a rare public appearance during early-morning drills simulating an invasion of the Taipei MRT The ongoing Han Kuang military exercises entered their sixth day yesterday, simulating repelling enemy landings in Penghu County, setting up fortifications in Tainan, laying mines in waters in Kaohsiung and conducting urban combat drills in Taipei. At 5am in Penghu — part of the exercise’s first combat zone — participating units responded to a simulated rapid enemy landing on beaches, combining infantry as well as armored personnel. First Combat Zone Commander Chen Chun-yuan (陳俊源) led the combined armed troops utilizing a variety of weapons systems. Wang Keng-sheng (王鏗勝), the commander in charge of the Penghu Defense Command’s mechanized battalion, said he would give
RSS