Taiwan will continue to work with Paraguay no matter the outcome of the South American country’s presidential election on April 30th. That was the word from foreign ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu (劉永健) on Thursday.
The two main contenders, the ruling party’s Santiago Peña and leftist opposition candidate Efraín Alegre, are neck and neck in pre-election polls. Alegre has made comments indicating he may reexamine keeping diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Taiwan recently lost another Latin American ally to China when Honduras switched its recognition to Beijing earlier this year, bringing its total number of diplomatic allies to just 13. Paraguay has had diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name, since 1957.
Liu says that Taiwan has a long history of trade and cooperation with Paraguay which has grown in recent years. He says he hopes Paraguay will cherish their long relationship and will not be blinded by promises from China. He added that other Latin American countries which have flipped to Beijing ended up with large trade deficits with China.
Liu added that whatever the outcome of the election, Taiwan will demonstrate its sincerity to bilateral ties and work with the new government of Paraguay.