Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te will postpone a planned visit to remaining allies in the Americas next month, embassy officials informed Reuters on Tuesday, following damage caused by a typhoon and as the island braced for further torrential rains.
Lai was set to visit the Americas next month as his government attempts to reinforce support in an area in which a lot of nations have severed diplomatic relations in favor of ties with China, Taiwan's claimant.
But embassy officials in Paraguay and Guatemala reported that the visit had been delayed until further notice.
"It had to be postponed because of the typhoon that caused many natural disasters. There is no new date to reschedule the visit," an embassy official in Guatemala City told Reuters.
An official at Taiwan's embassy in Paraguayan capital Asuncion, where Lai was also due to go, said the Taiwanese president did not now intend to travel overseas.
Earlier on Tuesday, Paraguayan congressman and member of Paraguay's ruling party Hugo Meza stated that the nation was "wasting time" keeping diplomatic ties with the Taiwanese. Paraguay remains the sole nation in South America that still acknowledges Taiwan.
Lai also was scheduled to stop in Belize and the United States.
Taiwan is recovering from Typhoon Danas, which hit the island's heavily-populated west coast earlier this month with record winds and inflicted widespread damage to its electricity infrastructure and some residences.
More recent flooding caused by a depression has inundated roads and buildings in a number of towns and villages in southern Taiwan this week, and its weather bureau cautioned that heavier rain could cause more landslides.
