Beijing is attempting to influence the Paraguayan government to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China, former Japanese ambassador to Paraguay Yoshie Nakatani said in a media interview published last week.
One such attempt was during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which Beijing attempted to pressure Asuncion to switch recognition to China by leveraging access to vaccines, Nakatani was quoted as saying by the Japanese-language Sankei Shimbun in an interview published on Thursday last week.
At the time, Beijing prioritized providing China-made vaccines to countries with official diplomatic ties, Nakatani said, adding that at one point Paraguay was the country with the lowest vaccination rate.
Photo: Reuters
China offered to provide Asuncion with cheaper vaccines in exchange for Paraguay switching its recognition from Taipei to Beijing, but the South American country adamantly rejected the offer, she said.
Beijing also attempted to pressure Paraguayan provincial governors to buy its vaccines, but the attempt failed as Asuncion had implemented state-only purchase policies, she said.
Diplomatic envoys stationed in Asuncion paid close attention to protests that erupted following the implementation of the policies, in which some people called for the then-Paraguayan president’s unseating, and the envoys were concerned about a possible change in administration, she said.
The Paraguayan government survived the protests and obtained vaccines from Chile, Nakatani said.
She worked closely with the Taiwanese and US ambassadors to Paraguay to develop solutions to prevent Asuncion from siding with Beijing, Nakatani was quoted as saying.
Taiwan did not have ways to provide vaccines at the time, so it instead provided medical equipment and oxygen tanks, while the US also provided medical equipment, sick beds and tents, she said.
Tokyo, together with UNICEF, provided large storage facilities for vaccines and helped Asuncion manage vaccines, develop a vaccination plan and train personnel, Nakatani said.
She also said that last year Chinese diplomat Xu Wei (徐偉) was declared persona non grata and given 24 hours to leave the country “over interference in internal affairs.”
Xu entered Paraguay, reportedly to attend a UNESCO meeting in December last year, but skipped the UNESCO session and visited the Paraguayan Congress, calling on Asuncion to renounce its recognition of Taiwan.
Paraguay is the only nation in South America and one of 12 countries worldwide that formally recognize Taiwan.
Asuncion was entirely entitled to revoke Xu’s visa, not because of what he had said, but because his actions contravened the stated intent of his visit to Paraguay, Nakatani said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
A fugitive in a suspected cosmetic surgery fraud case today returned to Taiwan from Canada, after being wanted for six years. Internet celebrity Su Chen-tuan (蘇陳端), known as Lady Nai Nai (貴婦奈奈), and her former boyfriend, plastic surgeon Paul Huang (黃博健), allegedly defrauded clients and friends of about NT$1 billion (US$30.66 million). Su was put on a wanted list in 2019 when she lived in Toronto, Canada, after failing to respond to subpoenas and arrest warrants from the Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office. Su arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5am today on an EVA Air flight accompanied by a
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
The Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office today requested that a court detain three individuals, including Keelung Department of Civil Affairs Director Chang Yuan-hsiang (張淵翔), in connection with an investigation into forged signatures used in recall campaigns. Chang is suspected of accessing a household registration system to assist with recall campaigns targeting Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷) and Jiho Chang (張之豪), prosecutors said. Prosecutors yesterday directed investigators to search six locations, including the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Keelung office and the residences of several recall campaign leaders. The recall campaign leaders, including Chi Wen-chuan (紀文荃), Yu Cheng-i (游正義) and Hsu Shao-yeh