Guatemalan presidential candidate Bernardo Arevalo on Wednesday said he has “no interest” in changing the country’s diplomatic ties with Taiwan should he be elected as the Central American nation’s next president.
Arevalo, who is running against Guatemala’s former first lady Sandra Torres in the country’s presidential runoff election on Aug. 20, made the comment in a teleconference with the Washington-based Atlantic Council.
Guatemala is one of 13 countries that recognize Taiwan, including the Holy See, and the relations with the country were established in 1933.
Photo: Reuters
“We are discussing [with Taiwanese officials] the ways in which we can ... harness their cooperation into our development plans,” he said. “We have made it very clear that there is no interest in altering the diplomatic relations between our countries.”
Asked whether he expects Guatemala’s “status quo” with Taiwan to be maintained, Arevalo said that expanding trade with China and keeping his country’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan are not mutually exclusive.
“We do not see that [as] being contradictory with the fact that there [are] already commercial ties established between Guatemala and the People’s Republic of China,” he said.
“[F]or us working in both directions, keeping diplomatic relations with Taiwan and exploring commercial relations with China are completely compatible,” he said.
Last month, Arevalo told local radio station Con Criterio that he would increase Guatemala’s economic cooperation with potential foreign partners as president and mentioned Beijing as an example.
Guatemala should be the master of its own foreign policy and he would seek to maintain good relations with Taiwan and the People’s Republic of China if elected president, Arevalo said at the time.
The 64-year-old Arevalo visited Taiwan in 1994 when he was deputy minister of foreign affairs.
Arevalo came in second in the first-round presidential election on June 25 with 12 percent of the total votes cast after running a campaign that focused on corruption.
Guatemalan police on Friday last week raided the offices of Arevalo’s Semilla party for alleged irregularities in a move condemned by the candidate, the US and the EU.
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