Battle Looming Over Guatemala's Taiwan Ties
Taiwan says diplomatic relations with Guatemala are solid, while Beijing has made it clear to the Central American country that cutting ties with Taipei is the cost of doing business.
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00:00 Taiwan is battling to keep diplomatic ally Guatemala, one of just 12 countries around
00:05 the world that officially recognizes Taipei.
00:07 Rick Glauer joins us live from here in the capital.
00:09 Rick, what's the latest?
00:12 Well Taipei and Beijing are having a diplomatic war of words.
00:17 That's after Guatemala said it wanted to pursue more trade with China while keeping relations
00:22 with Taipei.
00:24 China has made it very clear that that is not an option for the Central American country.
00:28 It's urged Guatemala to cut ties with Taipei and to recognize Beijing's claims of sovereignty
00:34 over Taiwan.
00:35 Basically, that it's one or the other.
00:38 The foreign ministry here in Taiwan, meanwhile, has sought to play down fears of another diplomatic
00:43 loss.
00:45 It's saying that ties between Guatemala and Taiwan are rock solid.
00:50 So why is it so important for Taiwan to hold on to a diplomatic ally like Guatemala?
00:55 Well Taiwan's officials, diplomatic allies, give it legitimacy on the world stage and
01:00 they refute Beijing's claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.
01:05 They also help Taiwan to speak up in international organizations that it's otherwise shut out
01:09 of like the United Nations.
01:12 But recently, Beijing has been playing what Taiwan calls dollar diplomacy.
01:17 That's offering trade and investment to countries if they give up ties with Taipei in favor
01:24 of Beijing.
01:26 This has cut down the number of countries that officially recognize Taiwan to just 12.
01:32 But analysts are now saying that this is an expensive game that Taiwan cannot and should
01:36 not continue to play and that Taiwan should instead continue to focus on building those
01:42 unofficial ties with like-minded countries in places like Europe and the Americas.