Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei yesterday arrived in Taiwan for his first state visit in an effort to bolster bilateral ties amid intensified cross-strait tensions.
Giammattei was met at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) at about 5:30am.
He did not make a public statement upon arrival.
Photo: AFP / Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Before his departure, Giammattei wrote on Twitter that he had prepared “suitcases full of emotions and good news to strengthen the ties and brotherhood between our nations.”
“We are also going to Taiwan to send a very clear message to the world that countries have the right to govern themselves,” he wrote. “Their own territories will not be threatened.”
The four-day visit is Giammattei’s first to Taiwan as Guatemalan president. He had previously visited Taiwan in October 2019 as president-elect.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday was scheduled to greet Giammattei with full military honors and a state banquet, and confer upon him the Order of Brilliant Jade with Grand Cordon, Presidential Office spokeswoman Olivia Lin (林聿禪) said.
Instituted in 1933, the Grand Cordon is the highest order presented by the Republic of China, and can be worn only by a head of state.
Giammattei is also scheduled to deliver an address to the Legislative Yuan today.
This would be the first time in 13 years that a head of state from a foreign country speaks to Taiwan’s top lawmaking body.
Former Kiribati president Anote Tong addressed the Legislative Yuan in June 2010, when Kiribati had formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Tsai is scheduled to accompany Giammattei on a visit to RAC Electric Vehicles in Taichung, and attend an event in Taipei marking the beginning of a month-long celebration of Guatemalan coffee culture, which includes a coffee truck promoting the country’s brews on travels across Taiwan, Lin said.
Members of Giammattei’s delegation include Congressional President Shirley Rivera, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mario Bucaro, Minister of Public Finance Edwin Oswaldo Martinez Cameros, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Edgar Rene de Leon Moreno, and Minister of the Economy Janio Rosales Alegria.
Giammattei’s visit was scheduled after Tsai concluded a state visit to Guatemala and Belize earlier this month, with stopovers in the US to and from those destinations.
Among the 13 countries that have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, Guatemala and Belize are the only two in Central America, after Honduras switched allegiance to Beijing late last month.
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