2nd Panamanian lawmaker group visits Taiwan in three months

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) Another group of lawmakers from Panama arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a five-day visit, marking the second such delegation from the Central American country in three months, despite the lack of official diplomatic ties.

The seven-member cross-party delegation led by José A. Pérez is set to meet with Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) during their stay until Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said in a press release.

The group will also visit several government agencies, including the Legislative Yuan, the Mainland Affairs Council, the National Health Insurance Administration, Taiwan's foreign aid agency TaiwanICDF, and Hsinchu Science Park, among other institutions, MOFA said.

The visit is intended to give Panamanian lawmakers "a better understanding of Taiwan's democratic society, the latest developments in politics and economics, particularly in the semiconductor and high-tech sectors, to enhance closer bilateral exchanges in those fields," the ministry said.

MOFA noted that Taiwan is Panama's second-largest export destination after the United States.

Panama's Spanish-language daily, La Estrella de Panamá, on Jan. 27 quoted the country's foreign ministry as distancing itself from the Taipei trip, saying the visit has no connection to Panama's executive branch, while reiterating its "One-China" policy that recognizes the People's Republic of China instead of Taiwan, officially named the Republic of China.

The ongoing trip came less than three months after a previous delegation of nine Panamanian lawmakers visited Taiwan in late November 2025, despite attempts by China to block the visit.

An Associated Press report published on Nov. 20, citing the Panamanian daily La Prensa, said staff at the Chinese Embassy in Panama had asked the 10 lawmakers planning the trip to "immediately cancel" their visit to Taiwan. Ultimately, nine of them went ahead with the visit.

The November visit was reportedly the first time a group of Panamanian lawmakers visited Taiwan since both countries ended ties in 2017.