Two US representatives in a letter last week urged Honduran President Nasry Asfura to re-establish ties with Taiwan, which would reverse the “misguided decision” of the newly elected leader’s predecessor.
US representatives Tom Tiffany and Andy Ogles said in a letter dated Thursday last week congratulating Asfura for his election victory that the win represented the Honduran public’s rejection of policies of former Honduran president Xiomara Castro, including her decision to sever ties with Taiwan in favor of Beijing.
Tiffany and Ogles said that they “strongly support” Asfura’s expressed desire to resume diplomatic ties with Taipei and “look forward” to his formal announcement of the “important change.”
Photo: AFP
Asfura, who was sworn into office in January, had said on the campaign trail that his administration would seek to reverse Castro’s switch of diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.
On Feb. 7, during a meeting with US President Donald Trump at the Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, Asfura again said that he was considering switching diplomatic ties to Taiwan.
Tegucigalpa’s decision to switch diplomatic recognition and scrap a free-trade agreement with Taiwan was a huge blow for the Honduran shrimp industry, with data from Taiwanese officials showing that imports plunged from about 13,000 tonnes in 2022 to nearly 4,000 tonnes last year.
Shrimp exports have been a core industry for Honduras since the 1990s, and the slump led to the closure of 60 companies and the layoff of about 14,000 workers, reports said.
The Spanish-language La Tribuna last month reported that Honduran First Vice President Maria Antonieta Mejia said restoring diplomatic ties with Taipei would be a gradual process.
A team is reviewing the accords and agreements signed with China under the Castro administration and the results would help Asfura make a final decision on the matter, Mejia told the newspaper.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Feb. 11 said that it has an open-minded, practical stance and does not set prerequisites, adding that it would continue to foster bilateral relations based on the principles of equality and mutual benefit.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
A Japan Self-Defense Forces vessel entered the Taiwan Strait yesterday, Japanese media reported. After passing through the Taiwan Strait, the Ikazuchi was to proceed to the South China Sea to take part in a joint military exercise with the US and the Philippines, the reports said. Japan Self-Defense Force vessels were first reported to have passed through the strait in September, 2024, with two further transits taking place in February and June last year, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Yesterday’s transit also marked the first time since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office that a Japanese warship has been sent through the Taiwan
RSS