Taiwan’s last South American ally would consider Chinese investment to develop its nascent green hydrogen industry as it seeks to become a regional fertilizer supplier, Paraguayan Minister of Finance Carlos Fernandez said.
Paraguay has ample supplies of the two key ingredients needed to produce green hydrogen — water and renewable power from two massive hydroelectric dams — that can be further processed into synthetic fuels and fertilizers.
“I’m open to talking to any entrepreneur from China who wants to invest and create jobs in Paraguay,” Fernandez said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “It’s not a question of China versus Taiwan. We are open to everyone.”
Photo: AFP
China has steadily picked off Taipei’s diplomatic allies in Latin America, with Honduras switching ties this year. Beijing is now a top trading partner of many countries in the region and a major investor in mining, agriculture and infrastructure.
Paraguayan President Santiago Pena, who started his five-year term last month, has said he would maintain the alliance with Taiwan that dates to 1957.
The Pena administration wants to diversify Paraguay’s US$43 billion economy that is heavily dependent on soy and meat exports by developing green hydrogen and expanding a manufacture-for-export industry that shipped goods worth more than US$1 billion last year.
Fernandez said that Chinese investment is displacing the US and Europe in Latin America.
“The US could play a bigger role on economic investment in the whole region and not only Paraguay,” he said. “Otherwise someone else will take its place.”
Fernandez said he expects the Central Bank of Paraguay to continue lowering borrowing costs after last month’s 0.25-point cut to its benchmark interest rate.
“We are in a different cycle from the US and Europe, because we already have inflation converging around 3 percent,” he said.
‘ANGRY’: Forgetting the humiliations and sacrifices of ‘the people of the Republic of China’ experienced disqualified Lai from being president, Ma Ying-jeou said Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday criticized President William Lai (賴清德) over what he called “phrasing that downplayed Japan’s atrocities” against China during World War II. Ma made the remarks in a post on Facebook on the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Ma said he was “angry and disappointed” that Lai described the anniversary as the end of World War II instead of a “victory in the war of resistance” — a reference to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945). The eight-year war was a part of World War II, in which Japan and the other Axis
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday announced a ban on all current and former government officials from traveling to China to attend a military parade on Sept. 3, which Beijing is to hold to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. "This year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the Republic of China’s victory in the War of Resistance [Against Japan]," MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) told a regular news briefing in Taipei. To prevent Beijing from using the Sept. 3 military parade and related events for "united
‘OFFSHORE OPERATIONS’: Also in Dallas, Texas, the Ministry of Economic Affairs inaugurated its third Taiwan Trade and Investment Center to foster closer cooperation The 2025 Taiwan Expo USA opened on Thursday in Dallas, Texas, featuring 150 Taiwanese companies showcasing their latest technologies in the fields of drones, smart manufacturing and healthcare. The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA), the event’s organizer, said the exhibitors this year include Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (Foxconn), the world’s largest contract electronics manufacturer; AUO; PC brand Asustek Computer; and drone maker Thunder Tiger. In his opening speech, TAITRA chairman James Huang (黃志芳) said he expected Texas to become a world-class center for innovation and manufacturing as US technology companies from Silicon Valley and Taiwanese manufacturers form an industrial cluster
A 20-year-old man yesterday evening was electrocuted and fell to his death after he climbed a seven-story-high electricity tower to photograph the sunset, causing a wildfire on Datong Mountain (大同山) in New Taipei City’s Shulin District (樹林), the Taoyuan Police Department said today. The man, surnamed Hsieh (謝), was accompanied on an evening walk by a 20-year-old woman surnamed Shang (尚) who remained on the ground and witnessed the incident, capturing a final photograph of her friend sitting atop the tower before his death, an initial investigation showed. Shang then sought higher ground to call for help, police said. The New Taipei
RSS