President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) will visit Honduras on Jan. 27 and Jan. 28 to attend the inauguration of president-elect Porfirio Lobo Sosa, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
Ma and a small entourage will depart on Jan. 25 and make a one-night stopover in San Francisco before heading to the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa, ministry officials said.
On his fourth visit to Central America since taking office in 2008, Ma will be accompanied by several key officials, including National Security Council Secretary-General Su Chi (蘇起) and Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy Yang (楊進添).
First lady Chow Mei-ching (周美青) will not accompany him, nor will any business entrepreneurs or leading cultural figures, officials said.
Besides a dinner with US-based Taiwanese expatriates, no public activities will be scheduled for Ma during his stopover in San Francisco, although he will have telephone conversations with some “US friends” over issues of mutual concern, officials said.
Ma is scheduled to return to Taiwan on Jan. 30 after making a short stopover in Los Angeles. He will not stay the night there but will take a night flight home, the officials said.
So far, the greatest variables on Ma's forthcoming trip include the whereabouts of former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, who was ousted in a military coup in Honduras last June, and whether interim President Roberto Micheletti will step down prior to Lobo's inauguration, they said.
“We are closely monitoring the situation,” officials said.
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