Vice President William Lai (賴清德) is to serve as President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) envoy at the inauguration of Honduran president-elect Xiomara Castro on Thursday next week, the Presidential Office said yesterday.
It would be the first time that Lai travels overseas since he took office in May 2020.
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) said that Lai is to lead a delegation of 26 people, who are to depart Taipei on Tuesday next week.
Photo: Reuters
The delegation would depart Tegucigalpa on Friday next week and arrive back in Taiwan on Sunday next week, Chang said.
The delegation would transit in a third country, he said, without specifying when or disclosing the location, although Chinese-language media reported that the delegation would stop in Los Angeles.
Among the delegation would be Representative to the US Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and pandemic prevention experts, Chang said.
He did not say why Lai rather than Tsai herself is to attend the ceremony.
Asked about the stopover, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Alexander Yui (俞大㵢), who is responsible for Latin American affairs, refused to provide more details.
Arrangements are being made with authorities at the planned transit location and it would be made public soon, Yui said.
Lai might face issues if the stopover is in the US, because authorities there require visitors to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 with an approved vaccine.
Lai was vaccinated with the Taiwan-made Medigen vaccine, which is not yet on the US’ list of accepted COVID-19 vaccines.
Asked about the situation, Yui would only say that Lai would fully cooperate with local COVID-19 prevention measures.
All members of the delegation would follow COVID-19 prevention protocols throughout the trip, such as undergoing tests for the virus before and after the visit, Chang said.
After returning to Taiwan, Lai and the others would quarantine for 14 days and follow self-health management protocols for another seven days, Chang said.
While in Honduras, Yui said that Lai is expected to interact with foreign dignitaries at the ceremony, including US Vice President Kamala Harris, who is to lead a US delegation.
Lai would meet with Castro to convey Tsai’s congratulations and discuss matters related to bilateral ties, Yui said.
Castro’s win in the Nov. 28 presidential election made her the first female president of the Central American country, which first established diplomatic ties with Taiwan more than 80 years ago.
The victory of the 62-year-old wife of ousted former Honduran president Jose Manuel Zelaya had previously raised concerns about Honduran ties with Taiwan, as she said during her campaign that she might switch recognition to China if she won.
However, two senior members of Castro’s transition team last month said that the incoming government would maintain diplomatic ties with Taipei.
Also last month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said Castro’s team had promised that Honduras’ diplomatic ties with Taiwan would remain unchanged.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS