Honduran lawmaker visits Taiwan for training course: MOFA

Taipei, Sept. 22 (CNA) A Honduran lawmaker who made a rare visit to Taiwan earlier this month was in the country to attend a training course organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), a MOFA official in charge of the program said Tuesday.

José Han (韓志正), head of MOFA's Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs, said Jorge Cálix, caucus whip of Honduras' opposition Liberal Party, visited Taiwan mainly to attend the MOFA-organized Yuan Pang Class (遠朋班).

The annual training course, which has been held for decades, is intended to provide professional training for leaders in the region and allow them to become more familiar with Taiwan, Han said when asked to comment on Cálix's trip.

Cálix is the first Honduran politician to publicly visit Taiwan since the Central American country severed diplomatic ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing in March 2023, under then-President Xiomara Castro, ending 82 years of diplomatic relations.

Han would not comment, however, on whether Cálix's visit was related to the possibility of re-establishing ties between Taiwan and the former Central American ally that switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in March 2023.

Honduras' new president, Nasry Asfura, who took office in January, had pledged during his election campaign to restore ties with Taipei.

Since then, however, neither Tegucigalpa nor Taipei has spoken publicly about the possibility of restoring diplomatic ties.

A MOFA press statement released on Sept. 16 said Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) had met with Cálix a day earlier.

In the meeting, Lin pledged that Taiwan's government would maintain a "pragmatic and open approach" toward the prospect of future relations that could "create all kinds of possibilities," MOFA said.

According to Han, the training session Cálix attended last week was the 17th edition of the Yuan Pang Class, or Advanced Foreign Relations Course.

Representatives from 20 countries in Latin America attended the course, including countries such as Honduras that do not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, he said during a MOFA weekly briefing.

The attendees were either senior officials from Taiwan's diplomatic allies or lawmakers, think tank heads and business leaders from non-allied countries, Han said.

Cálix has served as a member of the National Congress since 2014. In early 2022, he briefly served as the disputed president of the Congress.