Washington, July 26 (CNA) Guatemalan presidential candidate Bernardo Ar?valo said Wednesday that if he wins the election he does not intend to switch his country’s diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China.
“We [his campaign team] have made it very clear that there is no interest in altering the diplomatic relations between our countries,” Ar?valo told the Atlantic Council, an American thinktank, via videoconferencing about his priorities and vision for the country.
The presidential candidate for the social democratic party Movimiento Semilla, who emerged after the first-round election on June 25, will compete in the August runoff against former Guatemalan first lady Sandra Torres, the candidate of the National Unity of Hope party.
Asked how Ar?valo perceives the evolution of Guatemala’s diplomatic relations with Taiwan, he said his team already spoke to Taiwan’s government on ways to advance his country’s development plans.
However, he added that as Guatemala already has commercial ties with China, his team will also explore expanding those relations.
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Working in both directions, keeping diplomatic relations with Taiwan and exploring commercial relations with China, are “completely compatible,” he explained.
The 64-year-old Ar?valo, visited Taiwan in 1994 when he was deputy minister of foreign affairs.
In a radio interview with Con Criterio on June 27, he said Guatemala should strengthen its foreign trade relations and “in the case of China, such relations should be expanded.”
The presidential candidate also said he seeks to maintain good political relations with China and Taiwan within the framework of mutual respect.
Guatemala has maintained diplomatic relations with the Republic of China — Taiwan’s official name — since 1933 and is currently one of only 13 countries worldwide to do so.
Source: Atlantic Council
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