President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday held talks with Honduran Vice President Olga Alvarado, in which Tsai promised to further promote agricultural cooperation between the two nations.
Tsai spoke with Alvarado for nearly an hour after attending the inauguration of Paraguayan President Mario Abdo Benitez earlier in the day.
They focused their talks on agricultural cooperation, with coffee and avocados high on their agenda, said National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥), who also attended the meeting.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office
The president told Alvarado that Taiwan would assist Honduras in further developing its avocado cultivation and distribution methods, from production to marketing, Tsai Ming-yen said.
In the short term, Honduran avocado sales are to focus on the local market and neighboring countries, with Taiwan projected to serve as a prime Asian distribution hub in the long term, Tsai Ing-wen was quoted as saying.
She told Alvarado that she would ask state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp to help small-scale Honduran coffee farmers establish brands, and that Taiwan would continue to purchase coffee grown by Honduran farmers, as it has been doing since last year, Tsai Ming-yen said.
The president also said she hopes that the Honduran economy would soon improve and that Taiwan-Honduras relations would become more stable and mutually beneficial, he added.
Alvarado said she is keen to learn from Tsai Ing-wen and praised her as a role model for female political figures, who are rare in Latin American, Tsai Ming-yen said.
Tsai Ing-wen later flew to Belize for a three-day visit, during which she is to be decorated by Governor-General Colville Young and meet Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow.
She is scheduled to return to Taiwan on Monday next week after concluding her nine-day trip — her fifth overseas trip since becoming president in May 2016.
Meanwhile in Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Spanish-speaking diplomatic allies frequently refer to Taiwan as “China-Taiwan,” a designation that does not call Taiwan a part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
The clarification came after Abdo Benitez on Tuesday referred to Taiwan as “China-Taiwan” on Twitter.
Some local media criticized the wording as misleading, saying it could be interpreted as saying that Taiwan is part of the PRC.
The phrase “China-Taiwan” is frequently used by Taiwan’s Spanish-speaking allies as an abbreviation of Republic of China (Taiwan), the nation’s official name, ministry spokesman Andrew Lee (李憲章) said.
The designation has long been used by different administrations across party lines among Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, he added.
In official invitations and related official documents that the Paraguayan government and Abdo Benitez sent to Taiwan, the nation’s full name has been used, Lee said.
During a meeting between Abdo Benitez and Tsai Ing-wen, the Paraguayan leader expressed gratitude toward his counterpart’s participation in his inauguration ceremony, Lee added.
He also pledged that the two nations would continue to enhance their strategic partnership under their shared democratic values, he said.
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