Tag Archives: Presidentelect

World

In diplomatic coup, Taiwan president speaks to Czech president-elect

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  • Pavel won Czech presidential election on Saturday
  • Pavel, Taiwan’s Tsai stress their shared values in call
  • China opposes other countries dealing with Taiwan
  • Beijing views Taiwan as renegade province

TAIPEI/PRAGUE, Jan 30 (Reuters) – Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen held a telephone call with Czech President-elect Petr Pavel on Monday, a highly unusual move given the lack of formal ties between their countries and a diplomatic coup for Taipei that is sure to infuriate China.

The two leaders stressed their countries’ shared values of freedom, democracy and human rights during their 15-minute call, their offices said, and Pavel said he hoped to meet Tsai in the future.

Most countries avoid high-level public interactions with Taiwan and its president, not wishing to provoke China, the world’s second largest economy.

Beijing views Taiwan as being part of “one China” and demands other countries recognise its sovereignty claims, which Taiwan’s democratically-elected government rejects.

In 2016, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump spoke by telephone with Tsai shortly after winning the election, setting off a storm of protest from Beijing.

Tsai said she hoped that under Pavel’s leadership the Czech Republic would continue to cooperate with Taiwan to promote a close partnership, and that she hoped to stay in touch with him.

“Bilateral interaction between Taiwan and the Czech Republic is close and good,” her office summarised Tsai as having said.

Pavel, a former army chief and high NATO official who won the Czech presidential election on Saturday, said on Twitter that the two countries “share the values of freedom, democracy, and human rights”.

‘ONE-CHINA’ PRINCIPLE

Earlier, China’s foreign ministry had said it was “seeking verification with the Czech side” on media reports that the call was to take place.

“The Chinese side is opposed to countries with which it has diplomatic ties engaging in any form of official exchange with the Taiwan authorities. Czech President-elect Pavel during the election period openly said that the ‘one-China’ principle should be respected,” the ministry said.

Pavel will take office in early March, replacing President Milos Zeman, who is known for his pro-Beijing stance.

Zeman spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping this month and they reaffirmed their “personal friendly” relationship, according to a readout of their call from Zeman’s office.

The Czech Republic, like most countries, has no official diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but the two sides have moved closer as Beijing ratchets up military threats against the island and Taipei seeks new friends in Eastern and Central Europe.

The centre-right Czech government has said it wants to deepen cooperation with democratic countries in the India-Pacific region, including Taiwan, and has also been seeking a “revision” of ties with China.

In 2020, the head of the Czech Senate visited Taiwan and declared himself to be Taiwanese in a speech at Taiwan’s parliament, channelling the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s defiance of communism in Berlin in 1963.

Reporting by Robert Muller and Jason Hovet; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee in Taipei; editing by Gareth Jones

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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World

Colombia: President-elect looks to build governing coalition

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BOGOTÁ, Colombia — President-elect Gustavo Petro, who has vowed to lift up Colombia’s poor and disenfranchised, has won the support of an influential party of the establishment as he tries to build a majority coalition in Congress.

Petro, a former Bogotá mayor and a member of the M-19 rebel group that disarmed decades ago, has won the support of the Liberal Party, which backed another candidate in the first round of Colombia’s presidential election. Petro won the second round on Sunday in a blow to political traditionalists who have presided for generations over Colombia, through violence and corruption, as well as economic growth and institutional stability.

The decision by the Liberal Party, led by ex-president César Gaviria, to join Petro’s Historic Pact group shows the pragmatic side of the president-elect as he makes political deals aimed at executing an ambitious legislative agenda that includes fiscal, agrarian, pension and other changes.

“We won’t be a party of opposition,” Gaviria said in a statement Wednesday. Details still have to be worked out regarding the Liberal’s Party role in a governing coalition and how it can collaborate with 62-year-old Petro’s camp, he said.

The Liberal Party is one of the largest groups in the bicameral Congress, with 14 senators in the 108-seat Senate and 32 representatives in the 187-seat lower house.

Petro’s Historic Pact has 20 seats in the Senate and 27 in the House of Representatives. A coalition including the Liberals and other allies would bring it closer to a parliamentary majority.

Sandra Borda, a political analyst at the University of Los Andes in Bogotá, said that a lot remains unclear about Petro’s vision of a “national accord” in which all sectors of society get involved.

“We have to see what will be the content of the policies that Congress will support, and in exchange for what,” Borda said. Foreign governments and international investors will follow closely to see who Petro picks as finance minister, which could indicate whether he plans on heavier state involvement in the economy, she said.

Some 47% of the electorate voted for real estate tycoon Rodolfo Hernández, who lost to Petro in the second round. As the losing candidate, Hernández was still guaranteed a Senate seat and he said Thursday that he would take it.

Petro is virtually certain to face robust opposition from the Democratic Center, the party founded by a former president, Álvaro Uribe. Current President Iván Duque, who by law was not allowed to run for a second term, is a member of the Democratic Center. He will hand power to Petro on Aug. 7.

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US

Peru’s electoral authority declares Pedro Castillo President-elect, 6 weeks after runoff

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Earlier Monday, the National Jury of Elections (JNE) unanimously dismissed the final appeals filed by Castillo’s opponent, Keiko Fujimori, regarding allegations of voting irregularities that were found to be unsubstantiated. The JNE said Castillo won the election with 50.126% of the vote. The two candidates were separated by just 44,263 votes — a razor-thin margin for a country with a population of about 33 million.

Castillo’s running mate, economist Dina Boluarte, was declared vice president-elect by the JNE.

The unprecedented delay between last month’s runoff election and Monday’s announcement came because the JNE was required to investigate Fujimori’s allegation. According to Peruvian law, a winner can only be declared after the JNE has revised all vote counts and resolved any complaints by electoral monitors. There is no vote recount in Peru’s electoral system.

Fujimori, the daughter of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, said earlier Monday she would respect the results of the election but did not walk back her earlier allegations of “irregularities” in the voting process. It was her third unsuccessful campaign for Peru’s presidency.

“I’m going to recognize the results because it’s what the law and the Constitution that I have sworn to says. The truth will come out, and we will all work together to restore legitimacy in our country,” Fujimori said at a news conference before Castillo was named President-elect.

Castillo and his party, Peru Libre, have denied the allegations of irregularities.

Castillo and current President Francisco Sagasti called for unity following the announcement. Sagasti said he would recognize the results presented by the JNE as legitimate.

“I welcome the proclamation of Pedro Castillo as president-elect after the announcement of the results by the JNE. Let’s look optimistically at the future of our country,” Sagasti said in a tweet. “Nine days before the Bicentennial, may this be the beginning of a new stage of reconciliation, consensus and unity.”

The election was held at a time of extreme political instability in Peru. Sagasti became Peru’s fourth President in less than five years after Congress voted to oust popular former leader Martin Vizcarra and Vizcarra’s replacement, Manuel Merino, resigned.

Fujimori now faces a corruption investigation that could have been suspended until the end of her mandate if she had won the election, according to a prosecutor working on the case against her.

CNN’s Mitchell McCluskey contributed to this report.

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