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Paraguay leader says ditching Taiwan would be 'historic mistake'
Paraguay leader says ditching Taiwan would be 'historic mistake'
by AFP Staff Writers
Taipei (AFP) Feb 18, 2023

Paraguay's outgoing leader on Saturday warned his successor against making a "historic mistake" by ditching Taiwan in favour of China as he wrapped up a visit to the island.

The South American nation is one of only 14 countries that officially recognise Taipei over Beijing, which claims self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory to be seized one day.

Taiwan's 65-year-old diplomatic ties with Paraguay are at risk, with opposition candidate Efrain Alegre reportedly saying he would switch recognition to Beijing if elected in April's presidential poll.

Current President Mario Abdo Benitez on Saturday said it would be wrong to break a "common destiny" shared by his country and Taiwan.

"I think it will be a historic mistake if Paraguay, if the next president does not make a serious and responsible evaluation," he told a press conference in Taipei.

"I think it is best for my country to continue deepening these ties of friendship," he added.

"Any leader who proposes a change would be a bad politician, it would be something that will definitely harm the possibility of prosperity for our country."

But Abdo Benitez said he believed the coming election will not affect ties.

Latin America has been a key diplomatic battleground for China and Taiwan since the two split in 1949 after a civil war.

China has spent decades convincing Taipei's diplomatic allies to switch sides, gaining eight since Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016.

Paraguay is one of Taiwan's few remaining allies in Latin America and the only one in South America, after China poached Panama, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua in recent years.

Taipei accused Beijing in 2021 of trying to lure Paraguay in exchange for Covid-19 vaccines when the country was struggling with soaring infection numbers.

At that time Taiwan's foreign minister Joseph Wu said Beijing's "vaccine diplomacy" had generated a lot of pressure on Abdo Benitez's government, while the political opposition was "very willing to link up with China".

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