President of Guatemala arrives in Taiwan, a visit criticized by China

First modification: 04/24/2023 – 03:46Last modification: 04/24/2023 – 11:56

Images released by the Taiwanese government showed Giammattei escorted by the island’s foreign minister, Joseph Wu, upon arrival 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, has vowed to retake it one day, and does not accept other countries recognizing Taipei.

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

During the visit from Monday to Thursday, the Central American president 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 on Monday that recognizing China, a key economic partner for the Central American nation, was “in line with Guatemala’s fundamental interests and the aspirations of its people.”

“Taiwan’s independence and secession movement goes against the current of history and is nothing more than self-deception by the (Taipei) Democratic Progressive Party authorities,” Mao Ning, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told reporters.

“It cannot stop the historical trend of China’s inevitable reunification,” he added.

Taiwan continues to lose allies

Giammatei’s tour is a “significant move” for Taiwan because “the Central American region is leaning towards mainland China in a certain way,” analyst Virginia Pinto of the Association for Social Studies and Research told AFP.

“We could see an increase in donations, in non-remunerated or technical aid that Taiwan could be offering to Guatemala, precisely to preserve one of the last supports it is having internationally,” he added.

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.

Now, 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.