TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Paraguay President-elect Santiago Pena promised to deepen relations with Taiwan following his election victory on Sunday (April 30).

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took to Twitter on Monday (May 1) to congratulate Pena on his win, saying she was eager to “to furthering our countries’ longstanding relationship and to seeing (sic) the government and people of Paraguay prosper under your leadership.”

In response, Pena said, “We are going to continue strengthening our historic ties of brotherhood and cooperation between our countries.” Pena won approximately 43% of the vote, while his rival, Efrain Alegre, received 27%.

During his campaign, Alegre vowed to reconsider Paraguay’s ties with Taiwan and possibly switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. Paraguay was missing out on major business opportunities in China by remaining with Taiwan, particularly in the soy and beef industries, he said.

Alegre also claimed that Taiwan gave more benefits to nations that were not its allies than to Paraguay, even though it was Taiwan’s largest ally, La Nacion reported.

Pena ran on a platform of promoting economic and trade diplomacy, establishing free childcare centers, combating drug abuse, eliminating poverty, creating job opportunities, and assisting youth employment. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Taiwan will continue to “deepen cooperation and exchanges with the new government of Paraguay to create the greatest benefit for the people of both countries.”

Paraguay is Taiwan's sole diplomatic ally in South America.