(TibetanReview.net, Dec06’24) –Paraguay has on Dec 5 kicked out a Chinese envoy for interfering in its domestic affairs after he skipped a UNESCO meeting – which was the purpose of his travel to the country – to instead visit its parliament to call on lawmakers to break off ties and long-established friendship with Taiwan. The Chinese diplomat was given 24 hours to leave the country.
In a curt statement, Paraguay’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had revoked the visa of Xu Wei, a senior Chinese envoy to Latin America who was in Paraguay for an annual UNESCO meeting, declaring him persona non grata “over interference in internal affairs,” reported the AP Dec 5.
The report said that the day before, Xu skipped the UNESCO session and instead turned up at Congress in Paraguay’s capital Asunción, where he caused a diplomatic stir by calling on Paraguay to ditch Taiwan, the self-governing democratic island of 23 million people that China claims as its territory.
Paraguay is the only nation in South America and one of just 12 worldwide that recognizes Taiwan as a country. The Paraguayan government has stayed firm in its commitment — even as Beijing ramps up its lobbying of foreign counterparts to stop recognizing the island, the report noted.
China’s Paraguay efforts come as four countries in Latin America — Honduras, Panama, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador — have, in recent years, cut ties with Taiwan in favour of Beijing, whose one-China principle forces countries to reject Taiwan as a country.
From the halls of the futuristic Congress building in Asunción that Taiwan helped fund, Xu stressed Beijing’s interest in establishing relations with Paraguay, but said the onus was on officials in Paraguay to make the first move.
“It is either China or Taiwan,” he has said. “I recommend that the government of Paraguay make a correct decision as soon as possible.”
Addressing lawmakers, Xu has dangled the prospect of expanded trade with Beijing among “thousands of other advantages.”
Xu made the comments after meeting with two opposition lawmakers who shared sympathetic views toward China, reported Reuters Dec 6.
Also, some members of the Paraguayan Congress, citing farmers’ struggles to export soybeans and beef to China, have said that the nation stood to benefit from a diplomatic flip in the long run, said the AP report.
The Taiwanese Embassy in Paraguay has on Dec 4 lashed out at China on the social media platform X, calling Xu an “infiltrator” who seeks “to undermine the firm friendship between Paraguay and Taiwan” that dates back to 1957.