The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said that it had expressed “grave concern” to the government of Honduras after Honduran President Xiomara Castro on Tuesday wrote on Twitter that it would pursue official diplomatic relations with China.
In addition to issuing a statement, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui (俞大㵢) summoned Honduran Ambassador to Taiwan Harold Burgos to the ministry in Taipei early yesterday to voice the government’s concerns.
The meeting lasted about 20 minutes and Burgos did not make any public comments upon arriving at the ministry.
Photo: Sam Yeh, AFP
Burgos said shortly after noon that he had not yet heard from his country’s foreign ministry.
“President Castro has given an instruction to [Honduran] Minister [of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique] Reina. We are waiting for further direction from our ministry,” he said.
Burgos was referring to a post by Castro early yesterday morning Taiwan time expressing her desire to seek official ties with China — a position she had taken during her presidential run, but appeared to back off from after taking power in January last year.
Photo: AFP
“I have instructed Chancellor Eduardo Reina to manage the opening of official relations with the People’s Republic of China as a sign of my determination to comply with the government plan and expand the borders freely in concert with the nations of the world,” she wrote in Spanish.
The foreign minister position is colloquially called “chancellor” in some Spanish-speaking countries.
Castro did not specify whether her country would end diplomatic relations with Taiwan before securing ties with China.
China requires that Taiwan’s allies sever ties with Taipei before establishing relations with it.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was not considering ending diplomatic relations with Honduras before the Central American country announced a diplomatic switch.
However, Taipei has expressed grave concern to Tegucigalpa over the post, and would continue to engage in talks with the ally and stress that Taiwan is a genuine friend and partner that has offered assistance to Honduras for decades.
Beijing always offers “false promises” to Taipei’s allies, with the sole purpose of snatching them away to diminish Taiwan’s international presence, the statement said.
Unlike China, Taiwan has for many years pushed forward projects that improved the well-being of Hondurans, it said.
“Our government has asked our Honduran counterpart to carefully consider [the situation] and not fall into China’s trap and make a wrong decision that would jeopardize our decades-long bilateral friendship,” the statement said.
Honduras is an important ally of Taiwan, it said, adding that Taiwan’s government would continue working with like-minded countries to strengthen cooperation and deepen friendships with its allies.
If Honduras were to end official diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the nation would be left with relationships with 12 UN member nations, as well as the Vatican and Somaliland.
Honduras would also become the ninth diplomatic ally, and fifth in Latin America, Taipei has lost to Beijing since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office in May 2016.
CALL FOR PEACE: Czech President Petr Pavel raised concerns about China’s military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and its ‘unfriendly action’ in the South China Sea The leaders of three diplomatic allies — Guatemala, Paraguay and Palau — on Tuesday voiced support for Taiwan’s inclusion in the UN on the first day of the UN General Debate in New York. In his address during the 78th UN General Assembly, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr urged the UN and all parties involved in cross-strait issues to exercise restraint and seek a peaceful resolution. “The well-being and prosperity of nations and their economies are intrinsically linked to global peace and stability,” he said. He also thanked partner nations such as Taiwan, Australia, Japan and the US for providing assistance
CROSS-STRAIT CONCERNS: At the same US Congress hearing, Mira Resnick said a US government shutdown could affect weapons sales and licenses to allies such as Taiwan A Chinese blockade of Taiwan would be a “monster risk” for Beijing and likely to fail, while a military invasion would be extremely difficult, senior Pentagon officials told the US Congress on Tuesday. Growing worries of a conflict come as China has ramped up military pressure on Taiwan, holding large-scale war games simulating a blockade on the nation, while conducting near-daily warplane incursions and sending Chinese vessels around its waters. US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Ely Ratner said a blockade would be “a monster risk for the PRC [People’s Republic of China].” “It would likely not succeed, and it
AMPHIBIOUS EXERCISES: The defense ministry said that it had detected 24 Chinese PLA Air Force planes entering Taiwan’s air defense zone over the previous 24 hours Chinese movements around Taiwan were “abnormal,” Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng (邱國正) said yesterday, flagging recent amphibious exercises in addition to drills Taipei has observed in China’s Fujian Province. Taiwan has reported a rise in Chinese military activity over the past week as dozens of fighters, drones, bombers and other aircraft, as well as warships, have operated around the nation. “Our initial analysis is that they are doing joint drills in September, including land, sea, air and amphibious,” Chiu told reporters at the legislature in Taipei. The “recent enemy situation is quite abnormal,” he said. The comments followed a statement from the
IN MOURNING: Tsai visited the site and spoke with family members of those killed, while all the major presidential candidates said they would temporarily halt campaigning A fire and subsequent explosions at a golf ball factory at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park (屏東科技產業園區) killed at least seven people, including four firefighters, and injured 98, while three were still missing, authorities said yesterday. The blaze at Launch Technologies Co’s (明揚國際) plant on Jingjian Road raged for more than 12 hours after it started at about 5pm on Friday, officials said. The Pingtung County Fire Bureau early yesterday used large excavators to search for missing people, while family members waited at the scene. Pingtung County Fire Bureau Director Hsu Mei-hsueh (許美雪) said the bureau received a call about the fire at 5:31pm
RSS