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The president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen, will be in the United States and will visit Guatemala and Belize, after the setback of Honduras in the recognition of diplomatic ties with Taipei. The visit of the Taiwanese leader in American territory generates harshness in Beijing and seeks to maintain the support, in decline, for the insular Executive in the Central American region.
The island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, left this Wednesday, March 29, for Guatemala and Belize. During her 10-day trip, she will also stop in the US cities of New York (on her arrival itinerary) and Los Angeles (scheduled on her return itinerary).
There, the Taiwanese leader is expected to hold a meeting with the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, California Republican Kevin McCarthy. Faced with the stopover in the United States, China expressed its protest and described this trip as “a serious provocation” to which it would “respond”.
The possible meeting between the president of Taiwan and McCarthy has not been confirmed or denied by the Republican’s press office.
China also urged the United States not to allow the Taiwanese president to visit through its territory. Zhu Fenglian, spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Chinese State Council, rejected the possible meeting between the speaker of the House of Representatives and the official from the island: “China opposes any kind of official interaction between Taiwan and the United States. United,” Zhu said.
Tsai Ing-wen will hold high-level meetings with the Guatemalan President, Alejandro Giammattei, and in Belize, with the Prime Minister, John Briceño. The tour of the Taiwanese leader through the region was motivated after loss of diplomatic recognition of Honduras, after eight decades of relations.
🇬🇹🇹🇼 | He @GuatemalaGob reaffirms its full support for the Government of the Republic of China (Taiwan), reiterating its recognition as an independent nation with which democratic values and mutual respect are shared, as well as an excellent political-diplomatic relationship. pic.twitter.com/c3xAA295Eb
— MINEX Guatemala 🇬🇹 (@MinexGt) March 26, 2023
Said setback also represents a geostrategic change in the Central American region in the face of Washington’s efforts to avoid international isolation of the disputed island.
One more visit, one less ally
The number of countries that recognize the Republic of China (Taiwan) as a sovereign state has decreased during the tenure of President Tsai Ing-wen, who has seen important allies in the Central American region withdraw recognition since her arrival. Taiwan.
According to Adrián Foncillas, a correspondent for France 24 in Spanish in China, the “technical stop” in the United States also has the purpose of strengthening ties with its greatest ally outside of China.
The Tegucigalpa decision, announced by President Xiomara Castro, represents a victory for the Chinese diplomacy that has promised investments through a hydroelectric project and railway projects.
In 2017, 19 countries, including major trade and diplomatic allies such as Panama, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua, recognized their sovereignty. In 2023, diplomatic recognition is held by 13 states.
On the island, there were also protests in favor of the president’s visit to the Central American region and official Chinese media, such as ‘The Global Times‘, give an account of protests against the transit of the president through the United States, by “30 political groups” in Taiwan.
Beijing refuses to maintain diplomatic relations with countries that do not recognize the “One China” principle that declares its sovereignty over the island.
The end of ‘dollar diplomacy’
Following the diplomatic setback with Honduras, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen said she would not continue “in a senseless competition of dollar diplomacy with China.” She referring to the economic investments that have also had direct effects on the expansion of the foreign policy of the Silk Road by China, in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“For many years we have held the belief that by working with all our capabilities and with a pragmatic and forward-looking approach, we could maintain the substantive and long-term development of our diplomatic allies,” the Taiwanese leader said on March 26.
Of the 13 states in the world that maintain diplomatic ties with Taipei after Honduras’s decision, seven are from Latin America and the Caribbean: Guatemala, Belize, Paraguay, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. . Also, the Vatican, Swaziland in Africa, and the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, and Tuvalu in the Pacific.
Paraguay would be the next ally in the region to evaluate its relations with the island, the South American country will hold elections at the end of April and the opposition candidate Efraín Alegre, the favorite in some polls, promises to change his relationship with Taiwan and Beijing.
On the other hand, the president’s announcements allow us to glimpse what will be the turn of Taiwanese foreign policy towards the Central American region, with a view to maintaining the diplomatic allies that are still preserved in the Central American region.
With AFP, EFE and local Chinese media.
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