MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Paraguay's new government, a test for Taiwan diplomacy

Taiwan's president Ma Ying-jeou begins this week his first overseas visit to three Latinamerican countries some of the very few left in the world that still recognise the Republic of China (Taipei).

This is President Ma first Latinamerican visit since taking office last May 20 and his schedule includes this Friday the inauguration ceremony of Paraguayan elected president Fernando Lugo, and on Saturday in the Dominican Republic a similar event with two times re-elected president Leonel Fernandez. President Ma will make a stop over in Los Angeles before leaving for Paraguay in the heart of South America including a technical stop in Panama where the Taiwanese leader will be meeting with his counterpart Martin Torrijos. Paraguay, Dominican Republic and Panama are three of the 23 countries in the world that have full diplomatic relations with Taiwan. During the presidential campaign, Lugo repeatedly said he will seek closer ties to China, marking a possible foreign policy shift in the only South American country allied with Taiwan Beijing considers Taiwan a separatist province and has been strongly lobbying for the three countries to cancel formal relations with Taipei and recognize the Peoples Popular Republic of China. Before leaving Taipei the presidential office made it clear that during his visit the Taiwanese leader will not be announcing any further aid to the three countries which benefit from the "support" of the Taiwanese people. "President Ma will make no new aid announcements during his visit. If requests are made, we will bring them back and look over them", said Foreign Affairs minister Hou Ching-shan who is also part of the visiting delegation. Ma's predecessor Chen Shui-bian, who retired in May, often pushed for high-profile stopovers in the United States during trips abroad, angering Washington, which recognizes Beijing but maintains close ties with Taipei. Ma has pledged to repair Taipei's ties with Washington, which he said had been fractured by Chen's pro-independence rhetoric. Washington has remained the leading arms supplier to Taiwan despite its switching of diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979. Ma has been low-key about the trip, in a bid to avoid irking Washington and Beijing. "This is a pure transit...we will not engage in any activities which are incompatible with the transit," he said. Chinese authorities, who repeatedly complained to Washington on stopovers by Taiwanese leaders, have so far made no comment about Ma's trip that is expected back in Taipei on August 19.