Honduras’ incoming government would maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan, two senior members of the transition team said on Friday, while a senior US administration official said that Washington was ready to “surge” economic aid to the new administration.
The news comes a day after neighboring Nicaragua switched allegiance to re-establish relations with China.
Prior to winning the Honduran presidential election on Nov. 28, Xiomara Castro of the leftist Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE) said if victorious, she would open diplomatic ties with China, but her team has since backtracked on that stance.
Photo: Reuters
Gerardo Torres, LIBRE’s secretary of international relations and a member of Castro’s transition team, said that her government was not about to sever ties with Taipei.
“The new government will maintain relations with Taiwan,” he said. “President-elect Xiomara Castro has been clear, these ties will be maintained. Nobody in the party wants to enter government distancing ourselves from the United States.”
Nevertheless, another of the transition team members, Rodolfo Pastor, kept open the possibility that Honduras would recognize China, calling it a “new superpower” and saying that the Central American country was studying the matter.
Pastor said that Castro wanted to diversify Honduras’ international relations, while emphasizing that there would be “no imminent change” in the relationship with Taiwan as there had been in Nicaragua.
Honduras is eager to work with the US on stamping out the corruption that fuels emigration north, Pastor said, adding that Castro and US President Joe Biden’s administration wanted to tackle the root causes of migration.
Castro’s government would work to maintain good relations with Washington, provided they were based on mutual respect and sovereignty, Pastor said.
Looking ahead, Pastor said it was important for Honduras to find a way of reducing its debt burden so that it could invest in public infrastructure such as hospitals and schools.
Meanwhile, Washington has continued to make the case to Honduras and other countries in the Americas that recognize Taiwan to maintain those ties, and has warned them about China’s intentions and “non-transparent” investment strategy in the region, the US official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The official said that while Washington was uncertain whether Castro would swat away China’s advances, initial discussions with her transition team have been very positive, including on issues such as boosting economic growth, improving governance and installing an anti-corruption body.
The US is open to sending more financial help to aid Castro on her priority areas as part of broader efforts to show relations with the US are more beneficial to Tegucigalpa than ties with China, the they said.
“I think we can surge resources there, and some of that will be through development resources,” the official said, adding that allies such as Taiwan, Japan and South Korea could help with accelerating private-sector growth.
AIR DEFENSE: The Norwegian missile system has proved highly effective in Ukraine in its war against Russia, and the US has recommended it for Taiwan, an expert said The Norwegian Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) Taiwan ordered from the US would be installed in strategically important positions in Taipei and New Taipei City to guard the region, the Ministry of National Defense said in statement yesterday. The air defense system would be deployed in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) and New Taipei City’s Tamsui District (淡水), the ministry said, adding that the systems could be delivered as soon as the end of this year. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency has previously said that three NASAMS would be sold to Taiwan. The weapons are part of the 17th US arms sale to
INSURRECTION: The NSB said it found evidence the CCP was seeking snipers in Taiwan to target members of the military and foreign organizations in the event of an invasion The number of Chinese spies prosecuted in Taiwan has grown threefold over a four-year period, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said in a report released yesterday. In 2021 and 2022, 16 and 10 spies were prosecuted respectively, but that number grew to 64 last year, it said, adding that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was working with gangs in Taiwan to develop a network of armed spies. Spies in Taiwan have on behalf of the CCP used a variety of channels and methods to infiltrate all sectors of the country, and recruited Taiwanese to cooperate in developing organizations and obtaining sensitive information
BREAKTHROUGH: The US is making chips on par in yield and quality with Taiwan, despite people saying that it could not happen, the official said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) has begun producing advanced 4-nanometer (nm) chips for US customers in Arizona, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said, a milestone in the semiconductor efforts of the administration of US President Joe Biden. In November last year, the commerce department finalized a US$6.6 billion grant to TSMC’s US unit for semiconductor production in Phoenix, Arizona. “For the first time ever in our country’s history, we are making leading edge 4-nanometer chips on American soil, American workers — on par in yield and quality with Taiwan,” Raimondo said, adding that production had begun in recent
Seven hundred and sixty-four foreigners were arrested last year for acting as money mules for criminals, with many entering Taiwan on a tourist visa for all-expenses-paid trips, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said on Saturday. Although from Jan. 1 to Dec. 26 last year, 26,478 people were arrested for working as money mules, the bureau said it was particularly concerned about those entering the country as tourists or migrant workers who help criminals and scammers pick up or transfer illegally obtained money. In a report, officials divided the money mules into two groups, the first of which are foreigners, mainly from Malaysia