President of Taiwan begins visit to Guatemala, after controversial stopover in the US.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen began a visit to Guatemala on Friday to strengthen ties with one of her few allies in the world, a tour with two controversial stops in the United States that angered China.

(Read also: This is how Latin America became a battlefield between China and Taiwan)

Tsai’s tour, which will also take her to Belize, takes place days after Honduras broke diplomatic relations with Taipei, opting for ties with Beijing.

After a brief meeting between Tsai and Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei, both gave a joint message where they reaffirmed their bond.

“Guatemala is a solid diplomatic ally of Taiwan, in recent years we have continued to consolidate our cooperation in areas of health, the economy, trade, as well as basic infrastructure,” Tsai said in her speech.

In addition, he thanked the support given by the Guatemalan president last year when China carried out military maneuvers. Tsai also highlighted the cooperation of 22 million dollars to Guatemala for the construction of a hospital in the City of Chimaltenango (west), which began operating on February 20.

(Also read: The ‘Bukele effect’: the controversial state of exception in force in Honduras)

However, that opening was overshadowed a few weeks later with the arrest of a Vice Minister of Health and two hospital executives for alleged acts of corruption when making anomalous purchases for almost 10 million dollars.

“For Guatemala, this visit is very significant to renew and reaffirm full support for the Taiwan government, reiterating the recognition of Taiwan as an independent nation and as the only and true China,” Giammattei pointed out.

The president made a stopover in New York and on her return trip plans to meet in California with the speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, prompting China to warn the United States that it is “playing with fire”. . Washington said there is no reason for China to “overreact.”

diplomatic battlefield

Tsai will leave for Belize on Sunday, where she will talk the next day with Prime Minister John Briceño, leaving on Tuesday. Honduras broke relations with Taiwan and recognized China last Sunday.

The decision reduced to 13 the countries that still recognize Taiwan, which has lost several Latin American allies in recent years.Paraguay could be next, as it has presidential elections in April and the opposition candidate Efraín Alegre he has said that if he wins, he will reassess ties with Taiwan.

China regards the island of democratic and self-government as part of its territory, which it hopes to one day recapture even by force.

Under the “One China” principle, it does not allow any country to have diplomatic ties with Beijing and Taipei at the same time. Latin America has been a diplomatic battleground since Taiwan and China parted ways in 1949, at the end of the Chinese civil war. The communists seized power in mainland China, while the nationalists retreated to Taiwan.

In recent years, they have left Taiwan to join China Nicaragua in 2021, El Salvador in 2018, Panama in 2017 and Costa Rica in 2007.

main ally

The United States does not have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but it does have a strong unofficial relationship, according to the State Department. Washington is the island’s main ally and its biggest arms supplier, although it switched recognition to Beijing in 1979.

After the decision of Honduras, the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, expressed that Washington has offered support to the people of Taiwan, but recognizes the principle of “One China”. “Countries have to make their own sovereign decisions about their foreign policy,” Blinken said. “We leave that up to them.”

“One and only China”

According to the Guatemalan planning secretariat, Taiwanese non-reimbursable cooperation between 2013-2021 reached 90 million dollars, three more than the assistance of the European Union.

In 2021, Taipei signed another agreement with Guatemala for 60 million non-reimbursable dollars for the next four years.

Ties between Taiwan and Guatemala have not been without controversy, as former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo was sentenced in the United States for trying to launder $2.5 million in bribes paid by Taiwan in exchange for maintaining recognition of the island.

Portillo, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years and 10 months. He was imprisoned for almost two years, since his prison time in Guatemala was deducted.

AFP