Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday.
“Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country.
Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a visit earlier this year by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lin said.
Photo: Reuters
Rubio’s trip included visits to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, during which he commended Guatemala for its steadfast recognition of Taiwan as a “democratic nation,” despite mounting international pressure for it to change that stance.
Guatemala and Belize are Taiwan’s two remaining diplomatic allies in Central America.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Chun-yu (陳俊宇) asked Lin about campaign promises from two presidential candidates in Honduras to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Chen was referring to Salvador Nasralla of the Liberal Party and Nasry Asfura of the National Party, who are running against Honduran Secretary of National Defense Rixi Moncada of the governing Liberty and Refoundation Party in the general elections scheduled for Nov. 30.
Honduran President Xiomara Castro, whose term ends this year, switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2023.
Since then, the Central American country has seen a sharp decline in its whiteleg shrimp farming industry, as Taiwan, which was the largest importer of Honduran shrimp, has since shifted to Belize for imported shrimp, Lin said.
Honduras’ shrimp exports fell from 9.2 million kilograms in 2023 to 3 million kilograms last year, a Radio America report said, citing data from the Asociacion Nacional de Acuicultores de Honduras.
In 2022, Taiwan was the main market for Honduran shrimp exports, buying nearly 40 percent.
Meanwhile, Lin said that as part of his ministry’s Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project, Taiwan has been working with its lone South American ally, Paraguay, to help develop the country’s high-tech and artificial intelligence capabilities.
The project puts forward major initiatives in Taiwan’s “five trusted industry sectors” to help its diplomatic allies prosper, he said.
Taiwan is using the initiative as a major incentive to attract new diplomatic partners and encourage the return of former allies, he said.
Since May 2016, when then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office for her first term, Taiwan has lost 10 diplomatic allies to China, five of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Taiwan will now have four additional national holidays after the Legislative Yuan passed an amendment today, which also made Labor Day a national holiday for all sectors. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) used their majority in the Legislative Yuan to pass the amendment to the Act on Implementing Memorial Days and State Holidays (紀念日及節日實施辦法), which the parties jointly proposed, in its third and final reading today. The legislature passed the bill to amend the act, which is currently enforced administratively, raising it to the legal level. The new legislation recognizes Confucius’ birthday on Sept. 28, the
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not