A group of lawmakers from Panama arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a five-day visit, the second such delegation from the Central American country in three months, despite the lack of official diplomatic ties.
The seven-member cross-party delegation led by Jose A. Perez is set to meet with senior government officials during their stay until Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
The group is to visit government agencies and institutions, including the Legislative Yuan, the Mainland Affairs Council, the National Health Insurance Administration, Taiwan’s foreign aid agency TaiwanICDF and Hsinchu Science Park, the ministry said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The visit is intended to give Panamanian lawmakers “a better understanding of Taiwan’s democratic society, the latest developments in politics and economics, particularly in the semiconductor and high-tech sectors, to enhance closer bilateral exchanges in those fields,” the ministry said.
Taiwan is Panama’s second-largest export destination after the US, it said.
The Panamanian daily La Estrella de Panama on Tuesday last week quoted the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs as distancing itself from the Taipei trip, saying the visit has no connection to Panama’s executive branch, while reiterating its “one China” policy that recognizes the Beijing government.
A delegation of Panamanian lawmakers visited Taiwan in late November, despite attempts by China to block the visit.
An Associated Press report on Nov. 20, citing the Panamanian daily La Prensa, said staff at the Chinese embassy in Panama had asked the 10 lawmakers planning the trip to “immediately cancel” their visit to Taiwan. Nine of them went ahead with the visit.
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