Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry says it trusts that it will continue working together with Paraguay, regardless of the South American nation’s upcoming presidential election results. The ministry spoke on Tuesday, less than two weeks before Paraguay’s elections.
Presidential candidate frontrunner Efraín Alegre has said he will cut off relations with Taiwan in favor of China if he is elected. That would bring Taiwan’s number of diplomatic allies down to only 12.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu (劉永健) says the ministry is fostering exchanges with other nations and making plans to further strengthen its relationships with its allies. He adds that Taiwan will not engage in dollar diplomacy with China.
Taiwan lost its diplomatic ally Honduras to China less than a month ago. But Liu points out that Paraguay and Taiwan share strong relations and have built stable trade ties in recent years, and the election results should not change this.