The termination of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Sao Tome and Principe will not affect President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) plan to visit diplomatic allies in Central America next month, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Javier Hou (侯清山) said yesterday.
Tsai’s planned stopover in the US will be made in accordance with past practice, Hou said at a legislative interpellation session.
Hou was responding to a lawmaker’s questions on possible changes to Tsai’s itinerary in the US after the African island nation announced earlier yesterday that it was severing diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The severance of ties is unrelated to Tsai’s Central America trip, Hou said.
Asked whether there would be additional restrictions imposed on Tsai’s stops in the US, Hou said nothing would change and that the journey would be conducted in accordance with past practice.
The ministry is seeking to arrange for Tsai to meet with members of the US Senate and US House of Representatives during her stopovers, he said.
Tsai is to embark on a nine-day state visit on Jan. 7 to four Central American nations: Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador.
The president is expected to transit in the US, but the exact locations are still being negotiated and have yet to be announced.
After losing Sao Tome and Principe, Taiwan now has 21 diplomatic allies, mostly small countries that look to it for development aid.
Asked about the risk of losing another diplomatic ally in the two weeks before Tsai starts her overseas trip, Hou said that a yellow “caution” light is flashing in regards to Taiwan’s formal ties with one other country, which he did not name.
After learning that Ambassador to Sao Tome and Principe Her Jian-gueng (何建功) is in Taiwan, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政) suggested that he should not return to the country, because Taiwan will close its embassy there after the formal termination of ties.
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