The Foreign Ministry reiterated on Wednesday that Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo has publicly supported maintaining diplomatic ties with Taiwan both before and after the election. This statement came following Guatemala's deliberation on formalizing trade ties with China.
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) attended Arevalo's inauguration in mid-January. At that time, Arevalo pledged to maintain its friendship with Taiwan and expressed a desire for strengthened cooperation.
Recently, Guatemalan Foreign Minister Carlos Ramiro Martinez expressed the country’s interest in forging formal trade relations with China while upholding ties with Taiwan, with China's Foreign Ministry endorsing this move based on the one-China principle.
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry condemned China's attempt to sway Guatemala's stance and Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Jeff Liu (劉永健) emphasized Taiwan's sovereignty.
Taiwan has a free trade agreement with Guatemala which ranks as Taiwan’s 65th largest trading partner. Taiwan is Guatemala's 21st largest trading partner accounting for 0.85% of the country's total trade volume in 2021. In the same year, bilateral trade between Taiwan and Guatemala totaled US$290 million, while China-Guatemala bilateral trade stood at US$4.35 billion.