How Taiwan Strengthens Its Friendships Through Soccer Diplomacy

As the main organizer of the event, which was supported by the Association of Hondurans of Taiwan (AHTW), I was delighted to see the turnout. The ambassadors of Honduras, Guatemala and Belize attended, along with representatives from the Paraguayan embassy. (All four countries are among Taiwan’s 15 remaining diplomatic allies.) Silvia Lu, vice-director of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs, attended on behalf of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During her opening speech, Belize ambassador Diane Haylock emphasized the importance of this event as a catalyst to strengthening relations between Taiwan and its allied nations. “Just as much as political diplomacy is important, so is economic diplomacy and particularly cultural diplomacy, and football is a very important activity in the life of the Central Americans and the Americas in general.”

Copa America Taiwan was first initiated by a Honduran named José Francisco Young Galo while he was studying in an undergraduate program on the island. Since then, the event has been held annually and has become a symbol of mutual cooperation, harmony, and sports.

Haiti took home the men’s championship this year, beating out second place France, while Gambia eclipsed El Salvador in a third-place match. A well-prepared Honduras side won the women’s championship in an intense match with Guatemala, while Paraguay defeated Belize to win third place.

Men’s sides from Honduras, Spain, Guatemala, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Belize, the Solomon Islands and Taiwan also participated, along with women’s teams from Nicaragua and Panama.

Opening ceremonies were conducted by the Honduran Cultural Company of Taiwan, directed by Dewin Ramón Justiniano Castillo. Since being founded earlier this year, the group has been in charge of representing Honduras in various cultural events taking place around Taiwan. 

In addition to the soccer tournament, the stadium was filled with the flavors of a gastronomic festival that brought dishes from all over the world, including Canada, Honduras, Mexico, Taiwan, Turkey, India, France, United States, El Salvador, and Nigeria.

Honduras has had formal diplomatic ties with the Republic of China (ROC) since 1941, and around 400 Hondurans currently reside in Taiwan. This group consists mostly of scholarship students studying in Taiwan along with military personnel distributed in various academies, such as the Chung Cheng Institute of Technology and the Republic of China Military Academy, and professionals who have decided to stay and establish a new life in Taiwan. 

“Many Hondurans who come to the island as students choose to stay in the country to start a business, so one of the objectives of the association is to help young entrepreneurs take that first step,” said Alicia Medina, the current president of AHTW.

Last month, AHTW was represented by myself and Carlos Quiroz at Taiwan’s first international job fair, held by All Hands Taiwan. During that event, we talked to different companies about the possibility of hiring more Honduran graduates and about internship opportunities for the Honduran students that are currently cursing their studies in the island. 

Medina emphasized the friendship that Taiwan maintains with its Latin American allies. In particular, she mentioned that the growing popularity of the coffee industry in Taiwan has led to several Hondurans venturing into this business, opening cafes and importing and marketing coffee beans on the island.

For instance, Taoyuan’s Nigen Coffee was founded by Honduran national Christian Mauricio Reyes Torres along with his partners at Nigen International Trading Corporation. The company sells the unprocessed beans to Taiwanese consumers who have taken an interest in Honduran coffee and also sell roasted coffee under their own registered brand. 

Zircle Coffee, a coffee bean distribution company, was founded by Honduran Elias Josue Rivera Guzmán, and IMPCT Coffee, a coffee shop chain that provides education to underprivileged children around the world by selling roasted coffee beans from countries like El Salvador, Nicaragua and other developing nations and reinvesting 25% of sales into women-led initiatives to combat poverty. The project was founded by Hult Prize winner Juan Diego Prudot and his team in 2015.

AHTW aims to represent Honduras culturally and academically, but also in sports. Several Honduran players have played matches in Taiwan’s first division, such as Elías René Argueta Tejeda, Daniel Humberto Torres Espinoza, Javier Funes Guzmán and Luis Fernando Galo.

As Taiwan’s main organization representing Hondurans, we also hold activities in which we sell Honduran food in different festivals and use the profits to make donations to Taiwanese and Honduran organizations, such as Harmony Home, an institution that has assisted people in Taiwan living with HIV/AIDS since 1986, and firefighters in Honduras. We have also used event profits to donate food to homeless people around Taipei Main Station, and we are in the process of partnering up with Educate 2 Envision, a United States NGO that builds high schools in rural areas and provides vocational training to low income children in Honduras. 

This year’s Copa America Taiwan attracted the attention of various media outlets like Fujen TV along with newspapers in Honduras and Central America. The association is now planning its next soccer tournament as well as an art event focused on Honduran artists.  

This year’s tournament was sponsored by institutions such as the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassy of the Republic of Honduras in Taiwan, Decathlon, Joyee International Management Consulting Co., Latinos Taiwan, M Taipei, Triangle, Salonpas, and Crafted Beer and Co.

AHTW would like to invite other non-governmental organizations, international and local companies with operations in Honduras and Taiwan, and people with an interest in being part of a positive change, to communicate with us via email at associacionhondurenataiwan@gmail.com or honduranassociationtw.@gmail.com.

(All photos courtesy of the Association for Hondurans of Taiwan)