Taiwan denies ties with Paraguay are shaky

Taipei - Taiwan on Tuesday denied that its diplomatic ties with Paraguay are shaky, following press reports that Paraguay will stop backing United Nations membership for Taiwan. 'In our allies' change of government, there might be changes in their support for our joining international organizations, but it will not affect bilateral ties,' Foreign Ministry Spokesman Chen Ming-cheng told reporters. 'President Lugo has said several times that Paraguay-Taiwan ties are solid, so Taiwan-Paraguay ties will not change because of change in Paraguay's support for Taiwan's UN bid,' he noted. Chen made the remark in response to press reports that President Fernando Lugo, in a television interview on Sunday, said Paraguay would not back Taiwan's attempt to join the UN. Lugo, inaugurated on August 15, said Paraguay will reverse its historic support for Taiwan at the 63rd session of the UN General Assembly which opens on September 16, and is also reconsidering its relations with communist regimes. 'We will no longer vote (at the UN) for Taiwan despite the fact that we recognize the aid the country has provided,' Lugo said. Since winning the election on April 20, the leftist former Catholic bishop Lugo has hinted that Paraguay should launch ties with China, but stopped short of saying Asuncion would cut ties with Taiwan. Several Taiwan lawmakers have blamed President Ma Ying-jeou's 'diplomatic truce' for causing confusion among Taiwan's 23 diplomatic allies and making them withdraw support for Taiwan's UN bid. 'President Ma's 'diplomatic truce' will trigger a wave of our allies' cutting ties with Taiwan. When the number of our allies is down to zero, Taiwan will (no longer exist as a sovereign nation and) become a part of China,' Tsai Huang-lang, a lawmaker from the opposition Democratic Progressive Party, said. Chiang Hsiao-yen, a lawmaker from the ruling Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), also expressed doubt about Ma's diplomatic truce. 'In launching the 'diplomatic truce,' goodwill from China is very important. It is better to announce it after we have reached an agreement with China on it,' he said. When Ma, from the China-friendly KMT, took office on May 20, he sought peace with China and proposed a halt to their long-time competition to woo each others' diplomatic allies. China welcomed Ma's peace overtures but has not made an official response to his diplomatic truce, because China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province and is opposed to foreign countries' having any formal contacts with Taiwan.