Paraguay’s President-elect Santiago Peña has pledged to continue building ties with Taiwan. Peña shared the message on Twitter on Tuesday, two days after Paraguay’s presidential election.
Paraguay is one of Taiwan’s 13 diplomatic allies, a number that dropped at the end of March when Honduras cut ties with Taiwan in favor of China. There was political concern in Taiwan leading up to Paraguay’s election because some presidential candidates vowed to support China if elected.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has congratulated Peña and said she looks forward to seeing prosperity in Paraguay and relations between the two countries continue to grow. Taiwan and Paraguay have been diplomatic allies for almost 65 years.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu (劉永健) says Taiwan is planning on sending representatives to attend Peña’s inauguration in August.