Vice President William Lai (賴清德) on Thursday spoke briefly with US Vice President Kamala Harris in their first public meeting, at the inauguration of Honduran President Xiomara Castro.
As the last government envoy introduced at the packed sports stadium where the ceremony was held, Harris greeted the international leaders present, including Lai, who was sitting in the front row near Costa Rican President Carlos Alvarado Quesada and King Felipe VI of Spain.
Lai and Harris spoke briefly, the first time the vice presidents have interacted at a public event since taking office in 2020 and last year respectively.
Photo: CNA
Commenting on their impromptu conversation, which the international media characterized as “highly symbolic,” Harris told reporters after the inauguration that she and Lai talked about “a common interest in this part of the region.”
Their conversation also touched on “Taiwan’s interest in our root causes strategy,” Harris said, referring to the US’ efforts to curb migration.
Reuters described the encounter as “likely to add to Beijing’s tensions with Washington.”
Photo: AFP / Honduran presidency
Speaking at a news conference with Taiwanese reporters, Lai declined to reveal what he and Harris discussed, saying only that he thanked the US vice president for her country’s support of Taiwan.
Lai also posted a photograph on Facebook of him among a group of people including King Felipe.
Lai is leading a delegation to Honduras to attend Castro’s inauguration and meet with officials from its new government.
He was yesterday to return home via San Francisco.
The Presidential Office said that Lai invited Castro to visit Taiwan during a bilateral meeting held after she was sworn in.
During the meeting, Lai extended the invitation to Castro on behalf of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), and expressed Taiwan’s continued support for the Honduran government as it pushes for economic reform and fights against corruption, the office said.
As Tsai and Castro are the first female presidents of their respective countries, their meeting would be a testament to global efforts to promote women’s empowerment, the office quoted Lai as saying.
Lai also proposed that Taiwan, Honduras and the US collaborate on “helping Honduras solve various problems,” the office said, without providing specifics.
Additional reporting by Reuters
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
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
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 —
RSS