Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen completed a three-day trip to Guatemala on Sunday (Apr 2) where she offered more cooperation with Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei’s government, one of Taiwan’s few allies in the world.
Tsai’s tour, which will take her to Belize on Sunday afternoon, comes a week after Honduras severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in favour of Beijing.
China and Taiwan have tussled for influence in Latin America since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, with Beijing considering Taiwan part of Chinese territory, a position Taipei strongly rejects. China refuses to allow other countries to maintain diplomatic relations with both at the same time.
While visiting Guatemala, Tsai signed a US$4 million agreement to modernise rural areas and promised to promote and increase cooperation between the two countries.
“From now on, Taiwan and Guatemala will continue to show solidarity to each other, deepening cooperation in all possible areas based on firm objectives, solidarity and mutual benefit,” Tsai said during a tour of a hospital built with Taiwanese help.
Before arriving in Guatemala – one of the 13 countries that Taiwan has diplomatic relations with – Tsai made a controversial stopover in New York, angering China, which has repeatedly warned US officials not to meet Tsai.
Chinese influence in Latin America has increased in recent years, with Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama and Costa Rica abandoning Taipei in favour of Beijing.