Apr 01 2021, 10:38 PM
April 01 2021, 2:34 AM
April 01 2021, 10:38 PM
(Bloomberg) --
(Bloomberg) --
As poor nations struggle to get their hands on Covid-19 vaccines, a thinly-populated South American country finds its chances linked to its unexpected role in growing tensions between the U.S. and China.
Paraguayâs 63-year-old alliance with Taiwan â forged when both were run by right-wing authoritarians â means the government canât directly buy from Chinaâs vaccine makers that have supplied other Latin American nations. Officials say theyâve been approached to switch to Beijing to get the doses.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken phoned President Mario Abdo Benitez to stiffen his spine against such a shift. That led Foreign Minister Euclides Acevedo to speak frankly this week to Washington and Taipei.