Taiwan would welcome restored ties with Honduras: Foreign Minister Lin

Taipei, April 21 (CNA) Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said Monday that Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if the next president of that country decides to make such a move.

"Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections," Lin said during a legislative hearing, when asked to comment on relevant statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the ongoing campaign.

At the same time, Lin said, Taiwan is paying close attention to the Central American region as a whole, in the wake of a visit there earlier this year by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

Rubio's trip included visits to Panama, El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Guatemala, during which he commended Guatemala for its steadfast recognition of Taiwan as a "democratic nation" despite mounting international pressure to change that stance.

Guatemala is one of Taiwan's two remaining diplomatic allies in Central America, the other being Belize.

In Monday's legislative hearing, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker Chen Chun-yu (陳俊宇) asked for Lin's take on campaign promises made by two of the three presidential candidates in Honduras, who have said they would restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan if elected.

While Chen did not name the candidates, he was referring to Salvador Nasralla of the centrist Liberal Party, and Nasry Asfura of the right-wing National Party, who are running against Rixi Moncada of the governing left-wing Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE) in the Honduras general elections scheduled for Nov. 30.

Incumbent Honduran President Xiomara Castro, whose term in office ends this year, decided in 2023 to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Since then, the Central American country has seen a sharp decline in its whiteleg shrimp farming industry, according to Lin.

That has happened because Taiwan, which was the largest importer of Honduran shrimps, has since shifted to Belize for its imported shrimp supply, Lin said.

Honduras' shrimp exports fell from 9.2 million kilograms in 2023 to 3 million kilograms in 2024, according to a Radio América report, which cited data from the Asociación Nacional de Acuicultores de Honduras.

In 2022, Taiwan was the main market for Honduras shrimp exports, buying nearly 40 percent.

Meanwhile, Lin said that as part of his ministry's Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project, Taiwan has been working with its lone South American ally Paraguay to help develop that country's high-tech and AI capabilities.

The project puts forward major initiatives in Taiwan's Five Trusted Industry Sectors to help its diplomatic allies prosper, he said.

Taiwan is using its Diplomatic Allies Prosperity Project as a major incentive to attract new diplomatic partners and encourage the return of former allies, Lin said.

Since May 2016, when then-President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) of the DPP took office for her first term, Taiwan has lost 10 diplomatic allies to China, five of them in the Latin American and Caribbean region.