Presidential Office spokesman David Lee (
"Please do not interpret this in a negative manner," Lee said. "The United Nations is aggressively pushing for the elimination of poverty and has set levels for aid to foreign countries. We are just doing our job as a responsible member of the global community."
Lee made the remarks in response to media inquiries about a political cartoon in yesterday's edition of La Prensa, a Honduran national daily. The cartoon showed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales shaking hands with Chen, who is seen holding a bag of money behind his back.
PHOTO: CNA
Presidential Office Deputy Secretary-General Chen Chi-mai (
Chen Shui-bian on Wednesday witnessed the signing of a US$5 million low interest rate loan at Instituto Central Vicente Caceres (ICVC) in Tegucigalpa. He then attended the inauguration of a computer center at the institute.
ICVC had originally planned to name the center after the president, but Chen-Shui-bian said that it would be more meaningful to name it after Taiwan.
He said that the US$5 million loan would be used to purchase 30,000 computers and build 3,000 computer centers. The project aims to train 15,000 computer teachers and benefit 1 million children and youngsters.
Lee said that the two countries had also signed a memorandum of cooperation last year, with Taiwan agreeing to offer US$1 million each year for four years to help Honduras raise its computer penetration rate and close the digital divide.
With the computer center program, Zelaya said that his country, which has one of the region's lowest rates of computer ownership and computer use, is expected to surge ahead.
Zelaya said he had accomplished the task Chen Shui-bian had entrusted him with, which was finding two plots of land to be provided free of charge to two Taiwanese companies interested in investing in Honduras.
Zelaya said he hoped the president would keep his promise of persuading the two companies to invest.
During interviews with local and international media in the afternoon, Chen Shui-bian said that all the country's aid packages were transparent and open and he believed Honduras has a transparent system that would put the money to good use.
He said he was not worried that Costa Rica's switching recognition to China would cause a domino effect, because Taiwan's diplomatic friendships were built on shared values of freedom and democracy.
Earlier on Wednesday morning, the president was given an emblem of the capital city of Tegucigalpa by Mayor Ricardo Antonio Alvarez at the City Hall.
Chen Shui-bian said at the time he would build a skyscraper higher than Taipei 101 in Tegucigalpa. When questioned by reporters, Lee said Chen was joking.
Before walking to the parliament to deliver a speech, Chen Shui-bian paid his respects to the founding father of Honduras, Francisco Morazan, placing a memorial wreath at a square in front of City Hall. At parliament, Chen Shui-bian was presented with the Gran Cruz Extraordinaria con Placa de Oro, the highest medal conferred by the National Congress, by Congressional Speaker Roberto Micheletti Bain.
loan
Chen Shui-bian thanked Congress for approving Taiwan's US$5 million loan to Honduras on Tuesday and expressed his hope that it would ratify the free-trade agreement signed between the two countries in May.
Acknowledging Bain's interest in running for president, Chen Shui-bian drew laughter when he said he wondered whether the congressional building or City Hall was closer to the presidential office.
Alvarez is also interested in running for president, and Chen Shui-bian had wished him good luck in achieving his dream when he visited City Hall earlier.
Chen Shui-bian received a round of applause when he spoke in Spanish, saying "your home is my home," "Honduras is my home," "Viva Honduras" and "Viva Taiwan."
Meanwhile, in Taiwan, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (
caution
"Many countries in the world criticize our diplomacy as `checkbook diplomacy.' We therefore really need to be careful when we offer foreign aid," he said when approached for comment at a pomelo farm in Yunlin.
Ma, who is in Yunlin as part of his "long stay" program, urged the government to do some careful thinking before promising foreign aid since the nation had been hit by several disasters and needed relief funds.
KMT Legislator Ting Shou-chung (
Additional reporting by Flora Wang
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday inaugurated the Danjiang Bridge across the Tamsui River in New Taipei City, saying that the structure would be an architectural icon and traffic artery for Taiwan. Feted as a major engineering achievement, the Danjiang Bridge is 920m long, 211m tall at the top of its pylon, and is the longest single-pylon asymmetric cable-stayed bridge in the world, the government’s Web site for the structure said. It was designed by late Iraqi-British architect Zaha Hadid. The structure, with a maximum deck of 70m, accommodates road and light rail traffic, and affords a 200m navigation channel for boats,
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest foundry service provider, yesterday said that global semiconductor revenue is projected to hit US$1.5 trillion in 2030, after the figure exceeds US$1 trillion this year, as artificial intelligence (AI) demand boosts consumption of token and compute power. “We are still at the beginning of the AI revolution, but we already see a significant impact across the whole semiconductor ecosystem,” TSMC deputy cochief operating officer Kevin Zhang (張曉強) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Hsinchu City. “It is fair to say that in the past decade, smartphones and other mobile devices were
US-CHINA SUMMIT: MOFA welcomed US reassurance of no change in its Taiwan policy; Trump said he did not comment when Xi talked of opposing independence US President Donald Trump yesterday said he has not made a decision on whether to move forward with a major arms package for Taiwan after hearing concerns about it from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Trump’s comments on Taiwan came as he flew back to Washington after wrapping up critical talks in which both leaders said important progress was made in stabilizing US-China relations even as deep differences persist between the world’s two biggest powers on Iran and Taiwan. “I will make a determination,” Trump said, adding: “I’ll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right
TAIWAN ISSUE: US treasury secretary Scott Bessent said on the first day of meetings that ‘it wouldn’t be a US-China summit without the Taiwan issue coming up’ There were no surprises on the first day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday, as the government reiterated that cross-strait stability is crucial to the Asia-Pacific region, as well as the world. As the two presidents met for a highly anticipated summit yesterday, Chinese state media reported that Xi warned Trump that missteps regarding Taiwan could push their two countries into “conflict.” Trump arrived in China with accolades for his host, calling Xi a “great leader” and “friend,” and extending an invitation to visit the White House
RSS