Taiwan is concerned about its diplomatic ties with Honduras after Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelayas Rosales twice postponed visiting Taiwan.
Zelayas was scheduled to visit Taiwan from last month but postponed the trip until early this month due to "an urgent matter" in Honduras. The "urgent matter" was that Zelayas had to go to Panama to attend a meeting of the Sistema de la Integracion Centroamericana.
Last week Honduras notified Taipei that Zelayas would put off his visit again due to a teachers' strike.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu (呂慶龍) confirmed on Monday that Zelayas putting off his visit again was "due to domestic issues."
"He has merely postponed, not canceled, his visit," Lu was quoted as saying by the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times' sister paper) yesterday. "Taiwan-Honduras ties are fine."
The local media has reported that some allies -- including the Vatican, Panama and Paraguay -- are mulling recognizing China, but the government claimed ties with these countries were solid.
Minister of Foreign Affairs James Huang (黃志芳) will visit Panama on Sunday to review the work of Taiwan's embassies in the region.
Ambassador to Panama Hou Ping-fu (侯平福) told the Central News Agency (CNA) that Huang will meet with Taiwan's ambassadors in Latin America next Tuesday and will also discuss projects with Panamanian leaders.
"Panama is not like Chad, which was forced to switch recognition because it wanted to sell oil to China. Taiwan-Panama ties are firm," CNA quoted Hou as saying.
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
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