Taiwan's foreign ministry says it's paying close attention to Honduras' presidential race, as several candidates have said they supported re-establishing ties with Taiwan.
00:00Several candidates in Honduras' upcoming presidential race have voiced support for restoring formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
00:08Such a move would be a major win for Taiwan, which has seen its diplomatic allies dwindle to just a dozen in recent years.
00:16Cadence Quaranta has been monitoring this development and joins us live from our newsroom in Taipei.
00:21Cadence, how has Taiwan responded to these candidates' comments?
00:24So, Taiwan's foreign ministry touched on this today at a routine press conference.
00:33Basically, they said that they're going to be paying close attention to what happens in Honduras' presidential election and in the race leading up to it.
00:42And they appeared to show a sense of cautious optimism. Here's what they said.
00:45关于宏都拉斯的总统大选,外交部持续关注红国的总统选情发展。
00:54而对于任何有助于提升台湾国际地位以及拓展台湾外交空间的可能,
01:00外交部也都以维护国家尊严与利益,同时秉持着平等护会的原则来慎重看待。
01:08Taiwan's foreign minister has also previously said that he would welcome a decision to re-establish ties with Honduras.
01:17As you mentioned, Taiwan only has a handful of allies left, and those remaining China's trying to put pressure on to switch ties.
01:25Honduras switched diplomatic relations from China to Taiwan in 2023.
01:29They basically said that closer links with China would be better for their economy.
01:34They said that they were in significant debt, and they had asked for billions of dollars from Taiwan in economic aid,
01:41but that Taiwan had refused to give them what they asked for.
01:45But now, just two years later, two of its candidates who are considered frontrunners in the race
01:50are saying that they support switching relations back to Taiwan.
01:54One of those candidates is from the Liberal Party.
01:57He basically said that if he was elected, he intended to restore relations with Taiwan
02:03and said that China was trying to exploit Honduras.
02:07The other was a candidate from the Nationalist Party who basically said that Honduras was, quote,
02:12a hundred times better off allied with Taiwan and said that if he was elected,
02:17he would move to have Honduras moving away from China and towards Taiwan.
02:22This all means that in Taiwan, Honduras' presidential election in November, on November 30th,
02:28will be closely watched by many people.
02:31And that's because a move to resume ties would really be good for Taiwan's efforts
02:35to build recognition and legitimacy on the world stage.
02:40Thanks, Cadence.
02:41That was Cadence Quaranta reporting live from our Taipei newsroom.
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