Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) yesterday reaffirmed that the nation’s ties with El Salvador remained firm after left-wing Salvadoran president-elect Mauricio Funes ended two decades of conservative rule in a historic election on Sunday.
Ou reassured Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) during a legislative question-and-answer session that Taiwan’s consulate officials in El Salvador had been working to build relations with Funes’ aides since the charismatic former TV journalist launched his presidential bid.
The minister said Taiwanese officials had provided Funes’ office with information that would help the president-elect gain a better understanding of the collaboration between the two nations.
Ou said he believed Funes had come to understand the importance of Taiwan’s collaborative projects with El Salvador.
He was responding to Chou’s concerns that El Salvador might consider switching recognition to China, as Funes had previously expressed interest in building ties with Beijing.
Funes, leader of the former rebel movement Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN), overturned almost 20 years of rightwing rule in El Salvador with 51.3 percent of the vote after more than 99.4 percent of ballots were counted late on Sunday. He defeated Rodrigo Avila of the ruling conservative Arena party.
Asked if Taiwan and the Latin American country had reached any consensus regarding their diplomatic ties, Ou said that, in a speech after the election, Funes only mentioned wanting to strengthen ties with the US.
Funes has not publicly expressed any new stance on Taiwan, the minister said.
Ou added that the ministry was planning for President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to attend Funes’ inauguration.
Ma could visit El Salvador on June 1 and attend the inauguration of the next Panamanian president on July 1, Ou said.
Panama is also one of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies.
Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) said at the question-and-answer session that the government would “closely monitor” the situation in El Salvador and prepare for all possible scenarios.
The ministry presented Ma’s congratulations to Funes soon after his election, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
Speaking at a separate event, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said Paraguayan President Fernandez Lugo had accepted an invitation to visit Taiwan later this year.
Ou had personally extended the invitation to Lugo during the foreign minister’s trip to Latin American last week.
Lugo, a former Catholic priest who was elected in April, said during the Paraguayan presidential campaign that he would consider establishing ties with Beijing if elected.
The ministry has on several occasions sought to dispel suspicions of shaky ties with Paraguay by saying that Lugo was not able to visit Taiwan because he was too busy dealing with domestic matters.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY JENNY W. HSU AND MO YAN-CHIH, WITH AGENCIES
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
TRUMP ERA: The change has sparked speculation on whether it was related to the new US president’s plan to dismiss more than 1,000 Joe Biden-era appointees The US government has declined to comment on a post that indicated the departure of Laura Rosenberger as chair of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). Neither the US Department of State nor the AIT has responded to the Central News Agency’s questions on the matter, after Rosenberger was listed as a former chair on the AIT’s official Web site, with her tenure marked as 2023 to this year. US officials have said previously that they usually do not comment on personnel changes within the government. Rosenberger was appointed head of the AIT in 2023, during the administration of former US president Joe