Taiwan did much to help Honduran President Xiomara Castro and her family during a coup in 2009, former Taiwanese ambassador to Honduras Lai Chien-chung (賴建中) said yesterday in response to allegations that Taipei’s indifference at the time helped push the country toward Beijing.
Lai, who served as ambassador from 2006 to 2011, said that Taiwan was among very few countries that reached out to Castro, who was then first lady, when then-Honduran president Manuel Zelaya was ousted and sent into exile.
“We extended our utmost goodwill and efforts,” Lai said, adding that related correspondence can be found at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Photo: AFP
Lai’s remarks came after former legislator Tsai Cheng-yuan (蔡正元) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Thursday said on Facebook that Taiwan refused to shelter Castro during the crisis and only helped her pregnant daughter.
Lai said that the coup took him by surprise, and he provided shelter to Castro’s husband and two daughters at his residence before the situation settled down.
Lai sheltered Castro at the US embassy separately to spread the risk, he said.
Castro often dined at Lai’s residence, he said, adding that relations with her were “very good.”
They remained friendly until Lai was dispatched to Italy in 2011, he said.
Castro drove hours to bid him farewell in person, putting him on the phone with Zelaya so he could thank Lai and Taiwan’s government for its support, Lai said.
Lai described the family’s stay at his house as an “act of trust.”
Castro’s daughter, Xiomara Zelaya, was a member of the diplomatic delegation Honduras dispatched to Beijing on Thursday to discuss the establishment of ties.
Castro on Tuesday last week wrote on Twitter that her country was considering diplomatic relations with China, but Honduras has not officially established ties with Beijing or severed them with Taipei.
Taiwan has yet to receive official communication from Honduras ending diplomatic relations, and is continuing efforts to salvage ties with the country, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
HOLIDAY EXERCISE: National forest recreation areas from north to south offer travelers a wide choice of sights to connect with nature and enjoy its benefits Hiking is a good way to improve one’s health, the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency said, as it released a list of national forest recreation areas that travelers can visit during the Lunar New Year holiday. Taking a green shower of phytoncides in the woods could boost one’s immunity system and metabolism, agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) cited a Japanese study as saying. For people visiting northern Taiwan, Lin recommended the Dongyanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Taoyuan’s Fusing District (復興). Once an important plantation in the north, Dongyanshan (東眼山) has a number of historic monuments, he said. The area is broadly covered by
RSS