Honduran Minister of Foreign Affairs Eduardo Enrique Reina said that his country plans to maintain its diplomatic ties with Taiwan while suggesting flexibility in the relationship.
“In the case of Taiwan, we are maintaining a fluid relationship,” Reina said.
Reina also said that Honduras and the Venezuelan government of Nicolas Maduro had resumed diplomatic relations, which were severed in 2010.
Photo: AFP
Newly inaugurated Honduran President Xiomara Castro vowed during her campaign that she would switch the country’s recognition to China if she won, although her transition team later said that the new government would maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Castro’s decision to ally Honduras more closely with the Venezuelan administration puts it out of step with Taiwan, which has continued to recognize self-declared interim president and Maduro opponent Juan Guaido as the country’s legitimate leader.
Castro was sworn in as president last week following a ceremony attended by Vice President William Lai (賴清德), US Vice President Kamala Harris and other international leaders.
Meanwhile, a senior US official said that he thinks the relationship between Taiwan and Honduras would “stay strong.”
US Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere Brian Nichols told a US House of Representatives committee hearing that Harris had raised the issue of diplomatic ties between Taiwan and Honduras during Castro’s trip to Tegucigalpa.
Castro responded by saying that her government intends to continue relations with Taipei, he said, adding that the US had raised the same issue with the eight countries in the western hemisphere that Taiwan has diplomatic relations with.
“We continue to talk about the benefits of that relationship, and the shared values of respectful democracy and human rights that Taiwan espouses, and the benefits that we all receive from an active Taiwan in our hemisphere,” Nichols said.
Taiwan has 14 diplomatic allies, most of which are in the South Pacific, Latin American, and the Caribbean.
While in Honduras, Lai was in contact with Belizean Prime Minister John Briceno, who later tested positive for COVID-19. The Presidential Office said on Thursday that Lai remains in good health.
Briceno was said by his office to have contracted the virus after his meeting with Lai and has since been in isolation.
Lai is in quarantine and tested negative for COVID-19 after taking a rapid test on Wednesday, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said.
Chang said Lai, along with all members of Taiwan’s delegation, underwent numerous rapid tests during the trip, all of which showed negative results.
Chang added that both President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Lai have extended their good wishes to Briceno for a quick recovery.
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