Taiwan on Friday accused China of seeking to use the Honduran election to “create controversy” and undermine Taiwan’s long-standing ties with the country, saying it would strive to win support for Honduras’ relations with Taipei.
Honduras’ main left-wing opposition party, the Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE), led by ousted former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, has said that if it wins November’s presidential election it would seek to “readjust” the country’s debt and establish diplomatic relations with China.
Honduras is one of 15 UN member countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has already warned Honduras not to be drawn in by China’s “flashy and false” promises, said that China has never stopped trying to undermine Taiwan’s relations with its diplomatic allies.
“Recently, it has even used the democratic election in our ally to create controversial topics and the false image of unstable diplomatic relations between our country and Honduras,” the ministry said, without giving details.
In the face of China’s “brutal suppression” of Taiwan’s diplomatic work, the government would “take concrete actions to demonstrate our country’s assistance to the development of Honduras’ economic and social affairs, and strive for the support of Honduras’ ruling and opposition parties for Taiwan,” it said.
Honduras has had relations for eight decades with the Republic of China, Taiwan’s formal name. That predates the Chinese Nationalist Party’s evacuation to Taiwan after loosing the Chinese Civil War in 1949 to the Chinese communists, who set up the People’s Republic of China in Beijing.
China’s efforts to win over Taiwan’s remaining allies have alarmed Washington, which is especially concerned about Beijing’s growing influence.
In September 2019, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati were the last countries to cut ties with Taipei.
Considering that most countries issue more than five denominations of banknotes, the central bank has decided to redesign all five denominations, the bank said as it prepares for the first major overhaul of the banknotes in more than 24 years. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-lung (楊金龍) is expected to report to the Legislative Yuan today on the bank’s operations and the redesign’s progress. The bank in a report sent to the legislature ahead of today’s meeting said it had commissioned a survey on the public’s preferences. Survey results showed that NT$100 and NT$1,000 banknotes are the most commonly used, while NT$200 and NT$2,000
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday reported the first case of a new COVID-19 subvariant — BA.3.2 — in a 10-year-old Singaporean girl who had a fever upon arrival in Taiwan and tested positive for the disease. The girl left Taiwan on March 20 and the case did not have a direct impact on the local community, it said. The WHO added the BA.3.2 strain to its list of Variants Under Monitoring in December last year, but this was the first imported case of the COVID-19 variant in Taiwan, CDC Deputy Director-General Lin Ming-cheng (林明誠) said. The girl arrived in Taiwan on
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This year’s Taipei Floral Picnic is to be held at Daan Park this weekend, featuring an exclusive Pokemon Go event, a theme food market, a coffee rave picnic area and stage performances. Pokemon Go Two massive Pokemon balloons are to be set up in the park as photo attractions, with an exclusive event zone operating from 10am to 6pm. Participants who complete designated tasks on-site would have a chance to receive limited-edition souvenirs. Pokemon trainers could also experience the newly launched game Pokemon Pokopia in the trial area. Three PokeStops are to be set up in the park. Trainers are invited to take