The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said that diplomatic ties with Honduras remain firm in spite of the Central American nation's president recently saying he would try to shore up ties with all nations, including China.
MOFA spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh (葉非比) said the media had blown Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya's comments out of proportion when he said Tegucigalpa would not rule out establishing closer ties with Beijing.
"The comment was made during Zelaya's visit to Costa Rica and the local reporters have read too much into the remarks," Yeh said, stressing that nothing Zelaya said was contradictory to what he has always said in the past.
Honduras, Yeh noted, has always adhered to the policy that it welcomes the establishment of stronger ties with any country, including China, under the condition that its relations with Taiwan remain unchanged.
Honduras newspaper La Prensa said Zelaya had hinted on a private visit to Costa Rica that his nation could establish diplomatic relations with Beijing. The paper quoted him as saying: "We have the intention of opening relations with all countries in the world, even China."
Taiwanese ambassador to Honduras Lai Chien-chung (賴建中) told the Central News Agency that Zelaya's commitment to Taiwan remains solid.
"Zelaya was the first head of state to express his support for Taiwan's independence and recognized Taiwan's contributions to the Central American region last September at the UN Assembly [in New York]," he said.
During President Chen Shui-bian's (
In other developments, the ministry declined to comment on speculation of possible Taiwan-Barbados ties, except to say Taiwan seeks to establish relations with any country that upholds democratic values and recognizes its sovereignty.
Talk of Barbados switching allegiance from Beijing to Taipei came after the Caribbean nation elected Taiwan-friendly candidate David Thompson as its new prime minister last week.
During his campaign, Thompson promised to break 30-year ties with China once he entered office.
Thompson's rival, outgoing prime minister Arthur Owen, has accused Taiwan of meddling in the election by providing a large cash donation to Thompson's Democratic Labour Party (DLP).
Owen and his Barbados Labour Party said that Barbados' intelligence services had reported that there had been frequent contact between the DLP and Taipei, via St. Kitts, and said that the campaign finance came after Thompson made his promise to switch diplomatic ties.
Taiwan has categorically denied the accusations.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
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Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
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