Taiwan is open to “any opportunity” to enhance ties with Honduras, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday, after a Honduran opposition leader said he would re-establish ties with Taipei if elected president next year.
The ministry said in a statement that it continues to uphold “honesty and openness” when engaging with countries around the world, including Honduras, a former diplomatic ally of Taiwan.
Taiwan “will not set any preconditions for establishing relations with a foreign country and has always taken seriously any opportunity to elevate its international status and expand its global presence,” the statement said.
Photo: Reuters
Former Honduran first vice president Salvador Nasralla is vying to be nominated by his party, Partido Liberal, to run for president.
In an interview on Saturday with local station Radio America, Nasralla, who served as first vice president from 2022 until his resignation early last year, pledged that if he won next year’s elections, he would re-establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Honduras last year cut ties with Taipei to establish diplomatic relations with Beijing.
In the interview, Nasralla said he opposed the free-trade agreement (FTA) that the Honduran government intends to sign with China.
“Our trade with China does not need an FTA, and these quadrupeds of the government led by [Manuel] Zelaya are handing over the national territory to a power taking advantage of the ignorance of the people who govern the country today,” he said.
Zelaya, a former Honduran president, is the husband and main adviser to Honduran President Xiomara Castro.
Data showed that in 2022, Honduras’ exports to Taiwan totaled US$121 million, Nasralla said.
Exports to China were only US$11 million, while imports from China were more than US$200 million, he said.
Honduras and China have had an “unfavorable trade balance” since forming ties in March last year, Nasralla said.
Ending of diplomatic ties with Taiwan cost Honduras 8,000 jobs directly and 50,000 jobs indirectly in the shrimp industry alone, he said.
Nasralla also criticized the Castro administration for its FTA talks with China in a post on X on Thursday last week.
“Mainland China makes huge promises that in the end it does not fulfill, as Costa Rica, Panama and El Salvador have already proven,” Nasralla said, pointing to three of Taiwan’s former allies in the region.
In contrast, Honduras was able to enjoy stable shrimp exports to “our friends in Taiwan,” he said.
Citing Nasralla’s post, the ministry in its statement yesterday said that China had never fulfilled the promises it has made to Taiwan’s former allies in Latin America, including Honduras.
Additional reporting by Huang Ching-hsuan
‘NO SECURITY RISK’: The Railway Bureau reassured the public that the technicians’ activities were limited to technical guidance and did not involve sensitive systems The Railway Bureau yesterday said it had invited eight Chinese technicians to assist with an airport MRT construction project. The bureau issued the confirmation after an Internet user said Chinese nationals had entered the construction zone of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 project. They asked why “individuals from an enemy state” were allowed access to such a major national infrastructure project, which raised serious concerns over Taiwan’s industrial safety, sensitive systems and information security. The bureau’s Northern Region Engineering Branch Office said subcontractor Taiwan Handle Industrial Co (台灣手把工業) of the Taoyuan airport MRT’s “Contract No. CU05 Project A14 Station Civil, MEP &
A US uncrewed surface vessel (USV) encountered multiple Chinese warships during an autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait, US defense company Seasats said in a statement on Wednesday. Seasats announced that a Lightfish USV had completed the first autonomous transit of the Taiwan Strait. Over five days, the USV traversed the entire length of the Strait while constantly monitoring surface vessel traffic, the company said. The Lightfish encountered multiple Chinese warships, one of which was a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 056 corvette, it said. The Chinese vessels were operating “well within Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone without transmitting their identity via the
‘BOOMING’: ’ The number of partners we have here is incredible. You can see from their stock prices. They’re doing so well, they’re so happy,’ Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp’s spending in Taiwan has ballooned to about US$150 billion a year, 10 times the US$10 billion to US$15 billion the company spent five years ago, Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said yesterday, suggesting Taiwan’s strategic importance in the global artificial intelligence (AI) supply chain. “Taiwan is the epicenter of the AI revolution. This is where the chips come, packaging comes. This is where the systems are made. This is where AI supercomputers were created,” Huang said at a meeting for the company’s employees in Beitou-Shilin Technology Park (北投士林科技園區) in Taipei, the planned site of Nvidia’s Taipei headquarters. “Taiwan
GREATER REACH? Auto parts and wood products would face tariffs of up to 15%, matching those targeting the EU, Japan and South Korea, Vice Premier said The US has announced that preferential tariff treatment for Taiwan’s non-semiconductor Section 232 goods would take effect retroactively from May 1, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The US government yesterday posted a notice on the Federal Register’s public inspection Web site previewing tariff concessions for Taiwan under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Taiwan-US investment after two months of negotiations. The MOU signed on Jan. 15 stipulated three major preferential tariff arrangements: a 15 percent “reciprocal” tariff rate for Taiwan without stacking most-favored nation (MFN) rates; preferential Section 232 treatment for semiconductors and related products; and preferential Section 232 treatment for non-semiconductor
RSS