Honduran Ambassador to Taiwan Rafael Fernando Sierra Quesada yesterday rebutted a rumor that it was due to the wobbling relationship between the two nations that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made Honduras the first stop in her nine-day visit to Central America, which begins today.
The ambassador called for a deeper relationship between the two nations in terms of commerce and education to further solidify ties and create a win-win situation for both countries.
Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez last year visited Taiwan before Double Ten National Day celebrations, and invited Tsai to visit Honduras.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
Tsai then requested a change to the itinerary of her visit to Central America to include Honduras, sources said.
Sierra said the Honduran people are looking forward to Tsai’s visit, dismissed rumors that diplomatic ties are unsteady and described himself as “Taiwan-loving.”
The Honduran ambassador is to accompany Tsai during her visit and tour the country with four Taiwanese corporations from different fields to seek commercial opportunities.
“The whole month will be the Taiwan month,” he said, adding that he would not be back in Taiwan until the end of this month.
However, Sierra said that Chinese influence has been increasing in Central and South America.
Saying that the Honduran president is Taiwan-friendly, Sierra stressed that the bilateral relationship does not depend only on high-level exchanges, but further development is needed, as Hernandez must have “bargaining chips” to sway Honduras’ pro-China politicians.
Taiwan is now promoting its new southbound policy, but Taiwan’s Central and South American allies could also be areas where Taipei concentrates development, the ambassador said, adding that the idea is not his alone, but shared by other Central and South American ambassadors to Taiwan.
He called for more investment from Taiwanese businesses, saying that there are only 10 Taiwanese firms putting money into Honduras.
Honduras is not asking for help or hoping to engage in so-called “checkbook diplomacy,” but aiming for person-to-person exchanges and to build a strong foundation for friendship in the private and civic sectors, Sierra said.
For example, if 500 companies hired 500 people — and if each employee supports a family of four — that would mean that at least 100,000 people would take to the streets if the Honduran political elite showed an intention to switch diplomatic allegiance, the ambassador said, adding that this is what he means by a “strong relationship.”
He said that Honduras, connecting the Pacific, the Atlantic, and Taiwan, the center of Asia, could be each other’s doors to greater markets.
Since 2015, when he first assumed the post as ambassador to Taiwan, Sierra has led more than 30 Taiwanese enterprises to visit Honduras and been proactive in promoting business cooperation.
He believes that commercial exchanges between the two countries in industries such as coffee, shoe making, agriculture, seafood, beef, mining and tourism are viable.
“The two countries long ago signed a free-trade agreement, and Taiwanese companies, with factories built in Honduras, would benefit from the free-trade agreements signed between Honduras and other countries such as the US, Canada, Mexico and other Central and South American countries,” Sierra said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS