image source,The office of President, Taiwan
Taiwan’s Vice President Lai Ching-de, as the special envoy of President Tsai Ing-wen, traveled to Honduras, a diplomatic country, to attend the inauguration of the country’s new president, Xiomara Castro, on Thursday. Lai Qingde has arrived in Los Angeles for 24 hours, and held a video conference with 17 U.S. congressmen at the hotel where he stayed. The topics of discussion included U.S.-Taiwan trade and threats from mainland China.
Lai Ching-de arrived at Los Angeles International Airport at 6:00 a.m. Western Time on January 26th. Representative of Taiwan in the United States Xiao Meiqin and American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chairman James F. Moriarty greeted him at the airport. Honduras Consul General in Los Angeles, Civella (Maria Fernanda Rivera) also went to the airport to lay flowers. According to Taiwan’s official news, Lai Qingde will stay in San Francisco for one night on his return trip and is expected to return to Taiwan on Sunday.
Since Castro publicly declared during the election that if elected, he will seek to establish diplomatic ties with Beijing and cut off diplomatic ties with Taiwan, which has drawn attention from all walks of life. At that time, the U.S. State Department made a public statement on the eve of the country’s general election, saying it expected Honduras to maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Beijing then slammed the United States for interfering in other countries’ internal affairs, and the three-way diplomatic wrestling between the United States, China and Taiwan resurfaced in Central America.
According to external analysis, under the lobbying operation of the United States, Honduras has not made major moves for the time being, but after the new president takes office, it is difficult to determine the future direction involved.
However, Song Wendi, a lecturer at the Australian National University, explained to the BBC in Chinese that even if Taiwan’s diplomatic relations in Central America are currently unstable, when the inauguration ceremony of the president of an allied country occurs, “Taiwan cannot directly ‘lie down’ and give up on its own, so as not to repeatedly help Taiwan consolidate diplomatic relations. Other friendly countries are chilling.” He added that during the epidemic, since President Tsai Ing-wen is not suitable to visit, it is a relatively reasonable balance to send Vice President Lai Qingde, who is the president’s avatar, to act on his behalf.
US, China and Taiwan continue to wrestle in Central America
image source,The office of President, Taiwan
Silvera (second from left), the Honduran Consul General in Los Angeles, lays flowers at the airport.
After Tsai Ing-wen was elected president in 2016, seven countries with diplomatic ties have so far severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan and established diplomatic ties with Beijing. At present, Taiwan has 15 diplomatic relations with countries in the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Europe (Vatican City).
In these countries that have recently severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan, pro-China or Taiwan-friendly political parties frequently alternate. Some countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan have just cut off diplomatic ties with Taiwan and will re-establish diplomatic ties after changing governments.
In Central America and the Caribbean, which were once regarded as the “back garden” of the United States, China’s influence has increased in recent years, and the tourist resources and market investment it provides are extremely attractive to these countries. In contrast, the United States, which is deeply divided at home and the new crown epidemic, has actively resisted the expansion of Chinese forces in the region since President Joe Biden took office. .
Professor Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean of the Taiwan Institute of Xiamen University, told Hong Kong’s Ta Kung Pao that it is very likely that Honduras and Taiwan authorities will break off diplomatic relations and turn to China. “At present, the United States is using financial interests as an incentive to ask Hong Guo not to ‘abandon Taiwan’. However, from the example of Nicaragua’s ‘abandoning Taiwan’, it can be seen that these small countries in Central and South America may not completely obey the US.”
Lai Qingde’s first foreign visit to a diplomatic country during his tenure
Lai Ching-de’s visit to Central America is the first official foreign visit by a high-level Taiwanese since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Lai Qingde said at a press conference at the airport before his departure that Honduras is an important diplomatic country of Taiwan, “Last year, the establishment of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Hong Kong just celebrated the 80th anniversary… We thank Honduras for being a voice for Taiwan internationally over the years, supporting Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations and the World Health Organization. International Civil Aviation Organization, Interpol, etc., to help Taiwan develop international space.”
image source,Ethan Lin
Lai Qingde arrived in Los Angeles, and some Taiwanese came to the airport to pick him up.
Honduras is one of the 15 countries that Taiwan has diplomatic relations with. The country established diplomatic relations with the government of the Republic of China, which has not yet moved to Taiwan, in 1941. The two countries have far-reaching diplomatic relations. In the face of the diplomatic crisis, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs once stated that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Honduras 80 years ago, “bilateral relations have been stable and friendly.” Taiwan’s foreign ministry spokesman Ou Jiangan also reminded Honduras to “pay attention to China’s promises that lip service does not pay.”
In addition, because of the inauguration ceremony of President Hong Guo, US Vice President Harris will also attend, and Lai Qingde may meet him at the ceremony, but the White House person replied to the Voice of America (VOA) that there is currently no plan for a meeting between He Jinli and Lai Qingde.
Based on this, Song Wendi told the BBC that visiting a friendly country to observe the ceremony is a matter of ceremonial diplomacy, and it was originally suitable for the vice president to act on his behalf. In the past, if the president of Taiwan visited, in addition to ceremonial diplomacy, he also passed through the United States and had first-line contact with the American people and officials, which could deepen the connection and gain additional value for voice. However, he said that now the new crown epidemic has not subsided, “even if the president is visiting, it may not be suitable for face-to-face contact with American personnel, so as to avoid mutual infection, whether it is transmitted from Taiwan to the United States or from the United States to Taiwan. It’s all a failure.”
However, this time Lai Qingde’s visit was also opposed in Taiwan. Jie Wenji, a former Taiwanese diplomat from the Kuomintang, told Taiwan media that Lai Qingde’s foreign visit was because Tsai Ing-wen was afraid that Honduras would want Taiwan’s financial aid, and assigned Lai Qingde to go there.
Song Wendi believes that during the epidemic, not only the benefits of diplomatic travel are lower than in the past, but now the cost of visiting is also particularly high. In particular, the delegation still has to be quarantined for two to three weeks after returning to Taiwan. It is impossible for President Tsai to be absent from the decision-making center for such a long time.
Zhang Jingze, a Taiwanese diplomat and a researcher at the China Institute for Strategic Studies, commented, “In terms of the current international situation, many diplomatic relations are inherently risky. As a special envoy to perform diplomatic missions, transiting the United States to communicate with key dignitaries in Washington, it was originally Deputy Lai Qingde. The president must go through a process of building his prestige, and even if there are adverse factors, he must move forward, there is no other choice.”