AFP | 2023-07-17

Paraguay's formal ties with Taiwan make "more sense" than recognising China, and will be a greater boost to development in the South American nation, president-elect Santiago Pena said.

Paraguay is the last remaining South American nation to recognise Taiwan over Beijing, which claims the island as its territory and has spent decades convincing Taipei's allies to switch.

Pena, who was elected in late April and will be inaugurated next month, has been in Taiwan since Tuesday and his schedule has been packed with meetings and stops, including at a bubble tea shop with the island's President Tsai Ing-wen.

He has vowed to stay on Taiwan's side during his five-year tenure, a point he reiterated during an interview with AFP and other media on Saturday (July 15).

"There are solid foundations and concrete facts that support why it makes more sense to have a relationship with Taiwan than with mainland China," he said.

Despite formally recognizing Taiwan, Pena said there are "no constraints" to trade with China, with which Paraguay has "a very broad relationship" -- China is Paraguay's top supplier of goods.

The former finance minister had vowed on the campaign trail to maintain formal ties with Taiwan.

His win in May soothed Taipei's fear that Paraguay would ditch it in favor of Beijing.

Panama, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua, and Honduras have all switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in recent years.

Paraguay has seen the experience of Costa Rica, Panama, and "probably the same thing will happen now with Honduras, the economic situation will not improve but will worsen" after they ditched Taipei for Beijing, he said.

"Our relationship with Taiwan is not an impediment to having trade relations with mainland China," Pena said, adding that "the restriction is the one placed by the People's Republic of China".

"We have no constraints on doing trade with China, we would love to do more trade with" China, he said.

'Tremendous experience'

Beijing does not allow its diplomatic allies to also recognize Taipei, which only has formal ties with 13 countries.

China has ramped up diplomatic, military, and economic pressure on Taiwan in recent years because Tsai does not accept that the island is a part of Chinese territory.

Beijing staged sea and air military exercises for two days around the island while Pena was visiting, according to Taiwan's defense ministry.

This week's trip is not Pena's first to Taiwan -- he came to the island 24 years ago for training and called it a "tremendous experience" to return.

"It was my first trip to Asia, coming to Taiwan blew my mind about the world and the things that I haven't seen... coming here really shaped my view about the world," the 44-year-old former economist said.

He also said Paraguay is "the number one country" today sending students to Taiwan and hopes this will help develop the South American country's future tech industry.

Attend inauguration

Taiwan said Monday (July 17) its vice president William Lai will attend the inauguration of Paraguay's new president next month with US stopovers, a move likely to spark a rebuke from Beijing.

Next month, Lai will lead a delegation to Asuncion for the inauguration of Santiago Pena on August 15 "to show the importance Taiwan attaches to its diplomatic ties with Paraguay", said deputy foreign minister Alexander Yui.

"We had arranged transits in the United States during previous visits to Central and South America and it's also being arranged this time according to precedents," Yui said.

Yui did not disclose the transit locations, only saying that the vice president's itinerary was still being finalized.

Lai last stopped in the United States in January 2022 on his way to the inauguration of Xiomara Castro, the first woman president of Taiwan's then-ally Honduras, which ditched Taipei in March to recognize Beijing.