Guatemalan president’s Taiwan visit draws China’s ire

First modification: 24/04/2023 – 03:46

Images released by the Taiwanese government showed Giammattei escorted by the island’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, as they arrived at Taoyuan International Airport.

Guatemala is one of the few countries that still recognize Taiwan’s sovereignty, a list that has dwindled in recent years under pressure from Beijing to isolate Taipei on the international stage.

China considers Taiwan part of its territory and has vowed to retake it one day, and does not accept that other countries recognize both Beijing and Taipei.

Before embarking on the trip, Giammattei said that with the visit he wanted to “also send the world a very clear message that countries have the right to govern themselves.”

During the visit from Monday to Thursday, Giammattei plans to address the Taiwanese Congress and visit a technology company in Taichung, south of the capital. He is also due to participate in an event to promote Guatemalan coffee, according to Taiwan’s presidential office.

Beijing warned the Giammattei government on Wednesday “not to help the wrongdoers and not to go against the general global trend and the aspirations of the Guatemalan people, for their own benefit.”

Taiwan lashed out at Beijing for using “extremely disrespectful remarks to insult our diplomatic ally and its head of state.”

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen this month visited Guatemala and Belize, her only remaining allies in Central America, after Honduras sided with China in March.

On her way back to Taipei, Tsai stopped over in the United States to meet with Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House of Representatives.

In response, China held three days of war exercises in which it simulated attacking and blockading the island.

Latin America has been a contested terrain since Taiwan and China parted ways in 1949, at the end of the Chinese civil war.

Beijing has spent decades convincing Taipei’s diplomatic allies to switch sides, wresting nine from it since Tsai came to power in 2016.

Taiwan’s relations with Paraguay are at risk. Opposition candidate Efraín Alegre has said that if he wins the April 30 elections he will reassess relations with Taiwan.

© 2023 AFP