Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui (俞大?) last month visited Taiwan’s Latin American allies in a bid to cement relations amid rumors that some could sever diplomatic ties with Taipei, a source familiar with the issue said.
After the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress in October last year, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said there were “signs” and intelligence suggesting that a few allies might consider cutting ties with Taiwan.
Paraguayan opposition party presidential candidate Efrain Alegrehas has said that his country would cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of China if he wins an election scheduled for April.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez in September last year asked Taipei to invest US$1 billion in the country to maintain diplomatic ties, as it would help him resist pressure from Beijing to switch diplomatic recognition.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro said she would consider severing ties with Taiwan during an election campaign in November 2021. Although Paraguay continued to maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan after Castro was elected, Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina said “we are maintaining a fluid relationship.”
Reina on Jan. 1 met with Chinese Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Xie Feng (謝鋒) to discuss trade issues, and former Honduran president Jose Manuel Zelaya — Castro’s husband — advocated for ties with Beijing.
The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States summit is to be held in Argentina on Tuesday next week. US and Chinese leaders have also been invited.
Some political watchers have said that if Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) attends the summit, he might interact with Castro, who has confirmed her attendance.
Due to China’s attempts to convince Taiwan’s allies to switch official recognition to Beijing, Taipei has 14 diplomatic allies: the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau and Tuvalu in the Pacific; Eswatini in Africa; the Holy See in Europe; Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras and Paraguay in Latin America, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean.
Four of the eight countries that severed ties with Taiwan since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in 2016 are Latin American countries: Panama, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Nicaragua.
Taipei’s relations with many of the region’s allies remain healthy, political watchers have said, and leaders from allies in Central America and the Caribbean visited Taiwan last year.
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves was the first head of state to visit Taipei to show his support after China conducted military drills around Taiwan in August last year.
Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno has had frequent interactions with high-level officials in Taiwan, and led a delegation to Taiwan in March last year.
Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei has openly supported Taiwan many times and has invited Tsai to cohost a planned summit of states that maintain diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Haiti continues to engage in bilateral cooperation projects with Taiwan and has spoken out for the country at the UN.
POLAM KOPITIAM CASE: Of the two people still in hospital, one has undergone a liver transplant and is improving, while the other is being evaluated for a liver transplant A fourth person has died from bongkrek acid poisoning linked to the Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said yesterday, as two other people remain seriously ill in hospital. The first death was reported on March 24. The man had been 39 years old and had eaten at the restaurant on March 22. As more cases of suspected food poisoning involving people who had eaten at the restaurant were reported by hospitals on March 26, the ministry and the Taipei Department of Health launched an investigation. The Food and
CHANGES: After-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during vacations or after-school study periods must not be used to teach new material, the ministry said The Ministry of Education yesterday announced new rules that would ban giving tests to most elementary and junior-high school students during morning study and afternoon rest periods. The amendments to regulations governing public education at elementary schools and junior high schools are to be implemented on Aug. 1. The revised rules stipulate that schools are forbidden to use after-school tutoring periods, extracurricular activities during summer or winter vacation or after-school study periods to teach new course material. In addition, schools would be prohibited from giving tests or exams to students in grades one to eight during morning study and afternoon break periods, the
Advocates of the rights of motorcycle and scooter riders yesterday protested in front of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications in Taipei, making three demands. They were joined by 30 passenger vehicles, which surrounded the ministry to make three demands related to traffic regulations — that motorcycles and scooters above 250cc be allowed on highways, that all motorcycles and scooters be allowed on inside lanes, and that driver and rider training programs be reformed. The ministry said that it has no plans to allow motorcycles on national highways for the time being, and said that motorcycles would be allowed on the inner
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition