China pressured Paraguay to switch recognition: former Japanese envoy

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By Lu Yung-shan and Jake Chung / Staff writers

Beijing is attempting to influence the Paraguayan government to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China, former Japanese ambassador to Paraguay Yoshie Nakatani said in a media interview published last week.

One such attempt was during the COVID-19 pandemic, in which Beijing attempted to pressure Asuncion to switch recognition to China by leveraging access to vaccines, Nakatani was quoted as saying by the Japanese-language Sankei Shimbun in an interview published on Thursday last week.

At the time, Beijing prioritized providing China-made vaccines to countries with official diplomatic ties, Nakatani said, adding that at one point Paraguay was the country with the lowest vaccination rate.

Photo: Reuters

China offered to provide Asuncion with cheaper vaccines in exchange for Paraguay switching its recognition from Taipei to Beijing, but the South American country adamantly rejected the offer, she said.

Beijing also attempted to pressure Paraguayan provincial governors to buy its vaccines, but the attempt failed as Asuncion had implemented state-only purchase policies, she said.

Diplomatic envoys stationed in Asuncion paid close attention to protests that erupted following the implementation of the policies, in which some people called for the then-Paraguayan president’s unseating, and the envoys were concerned about a possible change in administration, she said.

The Paraguayan government survived the protests and obtained vaccines from Chile, Nakatani said.

She worked closely with the Taiwanese and US ambassadors to Paraguay to develop solutions to prevent Asuncion from siding with Beijing, Nakatani was quoted as saying.

Taiwan did not have ways to provide vaccines at the time, so it instead provided medical equipment and oxygen tanks, while the US also provided medical equipment, sick beds and tents, she said.

Tokyo, together with UNICEF, provided large storage facilities for vaccines and helped Asuncion manage vaccines, develop a vaccination plan and train personnel, Nakatani said.

She also said that last year Chinese diplomat Xu Wei (徐偉) was declared persona non grata and given 24 hours to leave the country “over interference in internal affairs.”

Xu entered Paraguay, reportedly to attend a UNESCO meeting in December last year, but skipped the UNESCO session and visited the Paraguayan Congress, calling on Asuncion to renounce its recognition of Taiwan.

Paraguay is the only nation in South America and one of 12 countries worldwide that formally recognize Taiwan.

Asuncion was entirely entitled to revoke Xu’s visa, not because of what he had said, but because his actions contravened the stated intent of his visit to Paraguay, Nakatani said.

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