Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is on a state visit to Taiwan from today until Tuesday, during which he is to hold talks and exchange honorary decorations with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday.
Hernandez is to be welcomed with a military ceremony presided over by Tsai, before the two leaders begin their talks at the Presidential Office, the ministry said in a statement.
They are to release a joint declaration after the meeting, it said.
To show the government’s appreciation to Hernandez for his efforts to strengthen his nation’s relations with Taiwan, Tsai is to confer the Order of Brilliant Jade on Hernandez.
In return, Hernandez will decorate Tsai with the Grand Cross Order of Francisco Morazan with Gold Star.
Hernandez, who is leading a 21-member delegation, is also hosting a Honduran investment and trade fair in Taipei during the visit, the ministry said.
It is Hernandez’s third visit to Taiwan. He first visited in September 2010 as president of the Honduran National Congress and again in July last year as president.
Taiwan has maintained diplomatic relations with Honduras for 75 years, with the two nations enjoying close cooperation in areas such as trade, social welfare, infrastructure, education, healthcare and technology, the ministry said.
Meanwhile, the ministry said that a delegation of British lawmakers are on a one-week visit to Taiwan to learn more about its economic development strategies and government policies, among other matters.
The 10-member delegation, headed by Nigel Evans, joint chairman of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group, arrived on Monday and is to leave tomorrow, the ministry said.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
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