Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Hugh Todd says there was too much miscommunication and misinterpretation, both here and in the international environment surrounding the issue of Taiwan establishing an investment office in Guyana.
This, he said, led to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs terminating the agreement for the establishment of the Taiwan Office.
“We don’t plan to have diplomatic ties in the future. At least that is not something that’s being discussed,” he insisted.
According to Minister Todd, while there will be no formal establishment of diplomatic ties, the Guyanese Private Sector is free to conduct business with Taipei.
Questioned whether Government would be inclined to allowing Taiwan to establish an investment office here in the future, the Foreign Affairs Minister said, “The Taiwanese are free to do business with the private sector. What was confusing is that apparently some quarters thought that we were establishing diplomatic ties with Taipei, which is not the case… They can go ahead and have an office [here] to do investment, but private sector-wise.”
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the country had signed an agreement with the Guyana Government on January 11, 2021 to set up in Guyana an office that focuses on cooperation in areas like agriculture, education and trade.
The news of the establishment of a Taiwanese office in Guyana was first disclosed by the United States Embassy in Guyana on Wednesday.
But Minister Todd subsequently confirmed to media entities that it is actually an investment office that Taiwan would be setting up in Guyana. He has assured that there will be no bilateral diplomatic relations between Guyana and Taiwan, which China – one of Guyana’s major bilateral partner – claims as its sovereign territory.
However, the reports of the Taiwanese Office in Guyana had triggered widespread concerns about Guyana’s foreign policy and its relations with the People’s Republic of China and, by extension, the “One China Policy”.
In fact, according to international reports, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Beijing hopes Guyana would not engage in any official ties with Taiwan, and called on the country to “earnestly take steps to correct their mistake”.
Guyana traditionally has close ties with China and supports the “One China Policy”, which does not recognise Taiwan as an independent state.
China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province which it has vowed to retake. But Taiwan’s leaders say it is clearly much more than a province, arguing that it is a sovereign state.
