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Taiwan to send vice-president to attend Honduras inauguration as it seeks to boost ties
- William Lai will lead a delegation on a six-day visit including the event on January 27, presidential office says
- President-elect Xiomara Castro pledged to switch allegiance to Beijing during campaign but has since backtracked
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Taiwan will send its deputy leader to the inauguration of Honduran president-elect Xiomara Castro, as the self-ruled island seeks to strengthen ties with its remaining diplomatic allies.
Castro had pledged to switch official recognition to Beijing during her campaign, but has backtracked on that stance since winning the presidential election in November.
It comes as Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory, including trying to isolate the island diplomatically by poaching its allies.
Taiwanese Vice-President William Lai Ching-te will lead a 26-member delegation to attend Castro’s inauguration on January 27, presidential spokesman Xavier Chang told reporters in Taipei on Wednesday.
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Lai will be joined on the six-day visit by Taiwan’s de facto envoy to the US Hsiao Bi-khim, deputy secretary general of the presidential office Lee Chun-yi, and foreign vice-minister Alexander Tah-ray Yui, the spokesman said.
He said they were also expected to meet Castro during the visit, and had been given three tasks by President Tsai Ing-wen.
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“First to consolidate bilateral ties, as Taiwan and Honduras have more than 80 years of relations,” Chang said. “Second to deepen cooperation, as the two sides have long-term cooperation in agriculture, fishery and other domains. And third, to further enhance Taiwan’s international participation.”
Latin America has been a key diplomatic battleground for Beijing and Taipei since the end of a civil war between the two sides in 1949. Beijing has spent decades encouraging Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to switch allegiance, including in Latin America where it is also jostling for influence with the United States.
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