China ramps up rhetoric to attack Paraguay president’s Taiwan visit
BEIJING, May 12 (Reuters) – China stepped up its rhetoric on Tuesday against Paraguayan President Santiago Pena’s trip last week to Taiwan, saying he and his colleagues were “pawns of separatist forces” and had “ulterior motives” for staying in Taipei.
Paraguay is one of 12 countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and Pena praised their relationship during their meetings with President Lai Ching-te as being based on freedom and democracy.
Formal ties with Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, have become increasingly controversial in Paraguay, where some politicians and business leaders say the country has “derived limited economic benefit from the relationship and should instead establish relations with Beijing.”
After calling on Paraguay last week to break ties with Taiwan and place itself on the “right side of history,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry adopted an even firmer tone on Tuesday.
Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said opinion polls in Paraguay showed more than 90% of citizens supported establishing relations with Beijing. “He did not name the polls or say when they took place.
“This fully demonstrates that wallowing in the mud with Taiwanese authorities is deeply unpopular,” he said.
“Some Paraguayan politicians not only turn a deaf ear to this, but also brazenly travel to Taiwan at the risk of universal condemnation, publicly showing their support for figures like Lai Ching-te and willingly serving as pawns of Taiwan’s pro-independence separatist forces.”
Whether these politicians are acting in the interests of the Paraguayan people or have “ulterior motives is something that any discerning person can clearly see,” Guo added.
Paraguay’s Foreign Ministry did not respond to a request for comment sent outside of the country’s office hours.
China claims that Taiwan is one of its “provinces” without the right to the trappings of statehood, a position that Lai and his government reject.
(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; writing by Ben Blanchard; editing by Kate Mayberry)
