Ties between Taiwan and Honduras will not be affected despite the last-minute cancelation of President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) scheduled trip to the nation’s Central American ally, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
The announcement came several hours after Honduran President Manuel Zelaya was arrested by the military and sent into exile in Costa Rica early yesterday morning.
Because of the recent political upheaval in Honduras, the government had already made contingency plans and canceling the trip was one of them, Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦) said.
The cancelation will cut the length of Ma’s trip by two days, meaning he will return next Monday, Wang said.
“Because of the current political instability in Honduras, we would not be able to accomplish what we had originally intended during this visit. The president’s security is also another reason why the visit has been called off,” said Wang, stressing the cancelation will not affect bilateral relations between Honduras and Taiwan.
Ma and first lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) were scheduled to spend two days in Honduras during his trip to attend the inauguration of Panamanian president-elect Ricardo Martinelli on Saturday.
While the international community has condemned the military coup, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Henry Chen (陳銘政) said that to date, Taiwan would refrain from making any official comment because of the nation’s unique political situation.
“We will closely monitor the situation,” he said.
The Republic of China embassy in Tegucigalpa has not reported any problems with Taiwanese nationals because of the coup, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
International Cooperation Development Fund secretary-general Chen Lien-gene (陳連軍) said all 20 volunteers, staff members, and conscripts currently in Honduras have been accounted for and are reported to be safe.
A Taiwanese mobile medical team originally scheduled to visit Honduras will also be held back until further notice, he said.
Meanwhile, the ministry said yesterday it had no plans to raise its travel alert for Honduras because there was no widespread upheaval there.
“We will not raise our travel advisory for Honduras, but we are keeping a close eye on the situation,” Chen said.
At the moment, the ministry has in place a “yellow alert” for San Pedro Sula City because of its poor public security. A “yellow alert” is the lowest on the three-color travel advisory scale and serves as a reminder for travelers to exercise caution.
The comments came after the Honduran Congress on Sunday named its speaker Roberto Micheletti as an interim leader, who immediately imposed a 48-hour curfew after hundreds of Zelaya supporters took to the streets in the capital Tegucigalpa and blocked access to the presidential palace, calling for Zelaya’s reinstatement.
Asked whether the ministry would expand its travel alert if the protests escalated, Chen said it was a possibility, but so far the ministry had not considered doing so.
During his stay in Panama, Ma will hold talks with senior officials of the new Panamanian government, visit the Panama Canal, give interviews to the international news media and meet with Taiwanese community leaders.
The first lady will visit a charity organization headed by the new Panamanian first lady.
Following his trip to Panama, Ma will travel to Nicaragua where Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega will drive him to the hub of a bilateral technological cooperation project, which will allow Ma to interact with Nicaraguan citizens.
Ma will also attend a ribbon-cutting ceremony at a large trade fair to be held in Nicaragua from tomorrow to Sunday, at which many Taiwanese firms are expected to exhibit their latest products.
During the Nicaragua visit, first lady Chow will visit the local branch of World Vision and a development center for physically challenged children.
Ma will make a transit stop in San Francisco en route to Panama and will stop in Hawaii on his way home.
He will be accompanied by a 129-member delegation of government officials, legislators, industry executives, academics, university presidents, local government chiefs, charity group executives and performing artists.
Commenting on the cancelation, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs should be responsible for not offering Ma the latest advice about the impending coup.
DPP Legislator Chen Ting-fei (陳亭妃) said Ma called his foreign policy a “diplomatic truce,” but the consequences were that the ministry ignored the maintenance of good relations with the nation’s allies and failed to keep up with the latest information, and had therefore arranged for Ma to visit Honduras even though the political situation had been unstable for a while.
Chen said Minister of Foreign Affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) should step down because of the incident.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Shuai Hua-ming (帥化民) of the legislature’s Foreign and National Defense Committee, however, defended the ministry’s performance in arranging the president’s trip.
Shuai said the ministry had been keeping an eye on the political scene in Honduras. Shuai said although it was common for coups to take place in Central America, the ministry could not cancel the president’s planned visit until the coup had actually happened.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY CNA, FLORA WANG AND RICH CHANG
Also See: EDITORIAL: The dilemma of Honduras
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
CAUTION URGED: Xiaohongshu and Douyin — the Chinese version of TikTok — are tools the Chinese government uses for its ‘united front’ propaganda, the MAC said Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) yesterday urged people who use Chinese social media platforms to be cautious of being influenced by Beijing’s “united front” propaganda and undermining Taiwan’s sovereignty. Chiu made the remarks in response to queries about Chinese academic Zhang Weiwei (張維為) saying that as young Taiwanese are fond of interacting on Chinese app Xiaohongshu (小紅書, known as RedNote in English), “after unification with China, it would be easier to govern Taiwan than Hong Kong.” Zhang is professor of international relations at Shanghai’s Fudan University and director of its China Institute. When giving a speech at China’s Wuhan
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese
The zero emissions ship Porrima P111 was launched yesterday in Kaohsiung, showcasing the nation’s advancement in green technology, city Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. The nation last year acquired the Swiss-owned vessel, formerly known as Turanor PlanetSolar, in a bid to boost Taiwan’s technology sector, as well as ecotourism in Palau, Chen said at the ship’s launch ceremony at Singda Harbor. Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also attended the event. The original vessel was the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate the globe in a voyage from 2010 to 2012. Taiwan-based Porrima Inc (保利馬) installed upgrades with
RSS