President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has invited Honduran president-elect Juan Orlando Hernandez to visit Taiwan after he takes office, Presidential Office spokeswoman Garfie Li (李佳霏) said on Sunday.
Ma, who arrived in the Central American nation earlier in the day for Hernandez’s inauguration yesterday, extended the invitation during a 30-minute discussion with the president-elect, Li said.
Ma also commended Hernandez for his efforts to promote cooperation between Taiwan and Honduras during his tenure as speaker of the National Congress of Honduras, Li added.
Hernandez’s 25-year-old daughter, Ivonne Maria, is currently on a scholarship in Taiwan, studying at the Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies, Tamkang University, in Taipei.
The eldest of the president-elect’s four children and a lawyer in her home country, she came to Taiwan on a scholarship in August 2012 for Chinese-language study at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City (新北市), before moving on to her current program.
Hernandez’s son Juan Orlando is also in Taiwan, studying Chinese at Fu Jen.
Ma told Hernandez that Taiwanese news media have been keen to interview both students.
Hernandez said he won a scholarship to study in Taiwan after high school, but he did not take it up due to family matters.
“I’m very happy to see my children realize my dream to study in Taiwan,” Hernandez told Ma.
Based on the 72-year-old ties between Honduras and Taiwan, Hernandez said the two countries should join forces to deal with the many challenges facing the global economy.
He said Honduras faces challenges on the economic front and in fighting crime, particularly drug trafficking, and he hopes Taiwan will continue to assist his country with those problems.
In response, Ma said the nation’s embassy in Honduras and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would discuss with the Honduran government the details of future cooperation projects in those areas.
Hernandez visited Taiwan as a member of the National Congress and later as its speaker. He said his wife likes Sun Moon Lake very much and he hopes to visit again after he takes office.
Ma and his entourage began their diplomatic tour on Thursday, visiting two of the Taiwan’s African allies — Sao Tome and Principe and Burkina Faso — on the first leg.
During his five-hour stay in Burkina Faso, Ma and Burkinabe President Blaise Compaore held a joint press conference.
Noting that this year will mark the 20th anniversary of Taiwan and Burkina Faso resuming official diplomatic ties, Ma said that both sides have maintained close cooperation over the past two decades.
Ma also reiterated his administration’s efforts to improve Taiwan’s relations with China, Japan, the EU and the US, as well as expand Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.
Compaore lauded ties between his country and Taipei and expressed the hope that Taiwan would be able to participate in the UN Climate Change Conference in the near future.
Compaore said he would embark on a visit to Taiwan later this year at the invitation of the Taiwanese government.
Ma’s delegation is scheduled to return to Taiwan on Thursday.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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