Petro postpones his trip to China after a group of Congress members visited Taiwan

Colombian President Gustavo Petro postponed his trip to China, scheduled for next December, after tensions erupted this week due to the visit of a group of members of Congress from the South American country to Taiwan, the autonomous island that China considers an “inalienable” part of its territory. The news was confirmed and presented by this newspaper SpectatorThis comes a day after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement denying the possibility of opening a Colombian office in the capital, Taipei.

The Foreign Ministry, headed by Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio, said Thursday evening: “Under the Constitution, it is the President who directs Colombia’s foreign policy and international relations. For this reason, the statements made by members of Congress do not reflect or harm our official position.” The Foreign Ministry stressed that the country advocates the “one China” policy, the principle that there is only one country in the world called China and that its only representative is the Beijing government.

This state policy did not prevent Colombia from being one of Taiwan’s main trading partners in Latin America, where bilateral exchange in 2024 reached $580 million. Against this background, several members of Congress traveled this week to the Asian island, including Mauricio Giraldo (Conservative Party) and Mauricio Londoño (U Party), chairs of the Second Committee of the Senate and House of Representatives, which deals with international relations matters. They were accompanied by congressmen José Luis Pérez, German Alcides Blanco, Juan Felipe Lemos, Jorge Enrique Benedetti, and Bayardo Gilberto Betancourt. They are all members of parties located on the right of the political spectrum and far from Petro’s government.

The visit was of a high standard. The delegation was received by Taipei Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung. Taiwan’s Foreign Minister said in a post, “It is an honor for me to meet with Geraldo and Londoño. Their visit demonstrates our growing relations. Taiwan welcomes Colombia’s plan to reopen its office in Taipei, as we work to deepen cooperation and strengthen our friendship.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs then quickly issued a statement denying the opening of an office and, on the contrary, affirming its “satisfaction with the continued strengthening of the strategic partnership” it maintains with China. The agreement was signed by President Petro and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, during the Colombian’s visit to Beijing last May. That month, Colombia joined the New Silk Road, the massive investment and infrastructure program through which the Asian country seeks to expand its global influence.

Although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied that the Taiwanese government’s meeting with the delegation of members of Congress had anything to do with its decision, it confirmed to this newspaper that the trip planned by Petro and his Foreign Minister in the coming weeks had been “postponed” due to a “diplomatic agenda,” without specifying its topic or when it would be rescheduled.

In a statement, Mauricio Giraldo, Chairman of the Second Senate Committee, denied his announcement of the opening of a Colombian office in Taiwan. “What I expressed – in complete transparency – is the intention to encourage the creation or re-establishment of a trade office that already existed and that would enhance trade, cooperation and development opportunities for Colombia,” he explained. In contrast, Trump disdained the executive branch’s “selective speed” in responding to issues related to China when it “maintains long silence in key diplomatic crises with other strategic allies such as the United States.”

Deepening the good relationship with Beijing has become a priority for the Petro government. Due to the series of clashes with the United States, China has become a stable ally, and its bilateral trade with Colombia has not stopped growing in recent years. In fact, the announcement of the country’s accession to the New Silk Road sparked disapproval from Washington, which then threatened to cut off purchases of products vital to the Colombian economy such as flowers and coffee. The balance that had been maintained in recent months in Beijing’s favor appears to have lost weight with the cancellation of the December trip, less than a year after the change of government.

Relations with Taiwan are a very sensitive issue for China, which is why most countries have openly expressed their support for a policy of inclusiveness of the territory, such as Colombia, Mexico and Spain, which although they do not recognize it as a country, maintain informal bilateral relations. For its part, the United States maintains “strategic ambiguity” about how to respond to the invasion of Taiwan. Beijing has never renounced the use of force to regain control of the island, which has raised military tension in the region in recent years.