Paraguayan President Santiago Pena told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday that his country “is not neutral” on the Taiwan Strait, pledging support for the self-ruled island and calling for its “full and meaningful participation” in the UN system.
Casting a conflict in the strait as a potentially far greater threat than the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Pena warned of “ominous clouds gathering over the Indo-Pacific” and of a conflict that would hit Japan, the rest of East and Southeast Asia and global chip supplies.
“Anyone pretending that this is far off or too distant to matter simply has not understood the 21st century,” Pena said, arguing that microchips had become to this century what oil was to the last.
With stakes that “could scarcely be higher” and “the very future of humanity” on the line, neutrality was not an option for Asuncion.
“Paraguay stands, and I say this loud and clear, with Taiwan.”
Pena grounded that support in shared democratic values rather than “expediency”, described Taiwan’s exclusion from the UN as “a stain on the United Nations” and said Paraguay was ready to take a seat “on the front row” of any peace negotiation over the strait.
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, held China’s seat at the UN, including a permanent place on the Security Council, until October 1971.
That month the General Assembly passed Resolution 2758, recognising the People’s Republic as China’s only lawful representative and expelling “the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek” as more governments switched recognition to Beijing.
Taipei argues the resolution settled only who represents China and said nothing about the island’s sovereignty status.
Beijing views Taiwan as part of China to be reunited with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Most countries, including the US, do not recognise it as an independent state, but Washington opposes any attempt to change the status quo by force and is committed to supplying the island with defensive weapons.
The Chinese Mission to the UN could not immediately be reached for comment on Paraguay’s remarks.
Pena’s alignment with Washington
The Paraguayan leader did not mention mainland China at any point in the speech, in contrast to his visit to Taipei in May, when he condemned Beijing’s military and economic pressure on the island.
The remarks came two days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the foreign ministers of Japan and South Korea met on the sidelines of the assembly and stressed the importance of peace and stability across the strait, opposing any unilateral change to the status quo.
Paraguay established relations with Taipei in 1957, during the US-backed dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner, and is the only South American nation that still recognises the island. It is one of 12 diplomatic allies Taiwan has left after Beijing systematically lured the others away.
Pena, who studied in Taiwan, made his fourth trip to the island in May, his first as a state visit. The two sides signed a treaty on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters and memorandums on cybersecurity and a jointly financed sovereign AI computing centre to be powered by Paraguay’s surplus hydroelectricity.
The visit drew a sharp rebuke from Beijing, where foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun branded Paraguayan leaders willing “chess pieces” for independence forces on the island and urged Asuncion to recognise the one-China principle.
Paraguay had already expelled Chinese envoy Xu Wei in December 2024 after he privately lobbied opposition lawmakers to switch recognition.
Pena’s stance also tracks a deepening alignment with Washington, which signed a status of forces agreement with Asuncion last year granting visiting US military personnel and contractors immunity from local prosecution. Rubio praised Paraguay at the signing as one of the United States’ “strongest allies in the world”.
At home, the relationship faces steady pressure from farm exporters, whose soy and beef cannot be sold directly to China and must be routed through Argentina and Brazil.
Meanwhile, Taiwan remains a key buyer of Paraguayan meat, taking 12 per cent of beef exports and 86 per cent of pork exports in the first half of this year.
In Pena’s account, Paraguay’s nearly seven decades of ties with Taipei amounted to more than “the product of a mere calculation” and stood as “a testament to the real friendship between our peoples”. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
