President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday congratulated Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez on his re-election, saying the two nations are to pursue closer relations.
Speaking in a video conference call from the Presidential Office, Tsai expressed her most sincere blessings on behalf of the government and people of Taiwan.
Honduras has been continually improving under the leadership of Hernandez and the Central American ally’s relationship with Taiwan has also developed because of his support, Tsai said.
Over the past year, exchanges in various fields between the two countries were strengthened through continuing bilateral cooperation programs, she said.
The government is to continue to jointly promote economic and trade cooperation programs, increase imports of Honduran agricultural products, encourage more investment by Taiwanese businesses and participate in Honduras’ infrastructure development, Tsai said.
With regard to Honduran support for Taiwan at various international meetings, Tsai expressed her thanks and said the nation cherishes the friendship and looks forward to working with Hernandez to promote and contribute to the friendship between the two countries.
She also expressed her condolences for Hernandez’s sister, who on Dec. 16 died in a helicopter crash near the country’s capital of Tegucigalpa.
Hernandez was on Dec. 17 declared the winner of last month’s election in Honduras amid opposition claims of fraud.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai