Taipei - Taiwan said Thursday it did not oppose to its longtime ally El Salvador's possibly establishing diplomatic ties with the island's political rival China.

"What we care is to secure our relations" with El Salvador, said Taiwan's foreign minister Francisco Ou.

His comment came after El Salvador's new President-elect Maurico Funes said Wednesday he would consider establishing diplomatic ties with China when he was to take office on June 1.

Ou was asked by parliamentarians what Taiwan would do if El Salvador chose to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing, a rival of Taiwan since the two sides split at the end of a civil war in 1949.

Ou said Taiwan would not take the initiative in severing ties with El Salvador and would do all it can to cement ties with the country.

Ou said although Funes was nominated by the left-wing opposition party Farabundo Marti Front for the National Liberation (FMLN) to run for president, he actually was not a left-wing member.

"Our embassy in El Salvador has recently established a communication channel with Funes," Ou said. "I believe our relations with El Salvador should remain firm," he said.

Ou said his ministry was making arrangement for the island's president Ma Ying-jeou to visit El Salvador and attend the inauguration of Funes in June.

El Salvador is one of the 23 mostly small countries that recognize Taiwan.

Meanwhile, Ou said his ministry has considered making Panama one of stops for Ma's Latin American visit. Panama is one of the island's allies reported to have interest in switching ties to Beijing.

China sees Taiwan as its breakaway province and used to woo these countries to drop Taipei and recognize Beijing, but stopped the effort after Ma took office and Ma called for a diplomatic truce so that Taipei and Beijing could improve ties. (dpa)