Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (
Ministry spokesman Michel Lu (
He stressed the trip was intended purely as a routine working meeting in the region in response to media reports that the minister was traveling to further cement diplomatic relations with the central American ally, whose relations with Taiwan had been rumored to be unstable.
The cutting of diplomatic ties with Chad last Saturday left Taiwan with a total of 24 diplomatic allies, half of which are in the Central and South America.
Huang said on Sunday during a press conference that "the ministry will do everything possible to cement ties with all our allies" to fend off a possible domino effect following Chad's siding with China.
Meanwhile, the ministry spokesman also confirmed yesterday that Honduras' President Manuel Zelaya, who was scheduled to visit Taiwan starting tomorrow, had canceled the trip due to an internal strike in his country.
Zelaya's cancelation prompted speculation of weakened bilateral relations.
Lu said Zelaya had to call off the trip because of a nationwide strike by his country's teachers.
This is the second time Zelaya has postponed his visit to Taiwan. The first occasion came in the middle of last month when the Honduran leader claimed the trip would clash with a summit meeting of the Central American Integration System.
Also yesterday, President Chen Shui-bian (
The president discussed the paramount importance of judicial independence and transparency while meeting with the president of Panama's Supreme Court of Justice, Graciela Dixon, at the Presidential Office.
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)
‘NEVER!’ Taiwan FactCheck Center said it had only received donations from the Open Society Foundations, which supports nonprofits that promote democratic values Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) has never received any donation from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a cofounder of the organization wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. The Taipei-based organization was established in 2018 by Taiwan Media Watch Foundation and the Association of Quality Journalism to monitor and verify news and information accuracy. It was officially registered as a foundation in 2021. National Chung Cheng University communications professor Lo Shih-hung (羅世宏), a cofounder and chairman of TFC, was responding to online rumors that the TFC receives funding from the US government’s humanitarian assistance agency via the Open Society Foundations (OSF),
ANNUAL LIGHT SHOW: The lanterns are exhibited near Taoyuan’s high-speed rail station and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the airport MRT line More than 400 lanterns are to be on display at the annual Taiwan Lantern Festival, which officially starts in Taoyuan today. The city is hosting the festival for the second time — the first time was in 2016. The Tourism Administration held a rehearsal of the festival last night. Chunghwa Telecom donated the main lantern of the festival to the Taoyuan City Government. The lanterns are exhibited in two main areas: near the high-speed rail (HSR) station in Taoyuan, which is at the A18 station of the Taoyuan Airport MRT, and around the Taoyuan Sports Park Station of the MRT