Temístocles Montás responds to Leah Francis Campos about China

Former Minister of Economy, Planning and Development during the governments of Danilo Medina, Temístocles Montás, defended the commercial sovereignty of the Dominican Republic following statements by Leah Francis Campos , nominated for ambassador to the United States, who pledged to curb China's " malign influence " in the country.

Juan Temístocles Montás asserted that the Dominican Republic is a sovereign country that, as such, "has every right to decide with whom it interacts and with whom it does business."

This was her response to Leah Francis Campos 's remarks before the Senate during a confirmation hearing for the position of U.S. ambassador to the Caribbean country.

Campos said he would work "tirelessly" to counter China's " malign influence " in the Dominican Republic and throughout the region.

Regarding the U.S. diplomat's comment, the former Minister of Industry, Commerce, and MSMEs (Micm) highlighted the need to diversify Dominican exports in the face of a context of uncertainty exacerbated by the tariffs imposed by the Donald Trump administration.

Expand business relations

"The Dominican Republic is obligated to diversify its markets , because we cannot continue to depend solely and exclusively on a single market... in an international context like the one we are seeing today, we urgently need the country to expand its trade relations , not only with China, but also with Latin American countries," the PLD leader reasoned.

Montás was also Minister of Economy , Planning and Development (Mepyd) during the government of Danilo Medina, who in 2018 broke relations with Taiwan and established them with China.

For his part, Campos is moving toward the goal of representing his country on Dominican soil, and his nomination was approved on April 8 by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Now all that remains is for that legislative chamber to support it with at least 51 votes in favor.

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