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
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