The possibility that Paraguay, the only nation in South America that still maintains diplomatic ties with Taiwan, is considering trying to get anti-COVID vaccines from China and break with Taiwan altogether, has driven U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken up the wall. Paraguay is in an absolutely dire situation, overwhelmed with rising cases of coronavirus and a collapsing healthcare system. With a population of 7 million people, it has been able to obtain only 163,000 doses of vaccine, 23,000 of which were Chinese, donated by Chile. President Mario Abdo Benitez has been greatly weakened by continuous mass protests denouncing his inaction in dealing with the pandemic.
As the pandemic has worsened, talk of a possible break with Taiwan to establish ties with the P.R.C. and seek vaccines has intensified. To stave off any such possibility, Blinken called Abdo Benitez on March 14, Bloomberg and other Ibero-American media reported. To offer vaccines? No—to tell him that the U.S., Taiwan, and “democratic regional and global partners” are Paraguay’s true allies, in case he were thinking otherwise.
