Just in Time for Elections, Taiwan Welcomes a New Honduras Ambassador

On December 7, the Taiwan embassy in Honduras took to Facebook to congratulate Eny Yamileth Bautista Guevara, the new Honduran ambassador to Taiwan.

In the post, the embassy encouraged Bautista to continue working to strengthen ties between Taiwan and Honduras, one of Taipei’s 15 remaining diplomatic allies.

Bautista has since arrived in Taiwan in what was a notably quick ambassadorial handover. Her appointment comes just before Saturday’s presidential and legislative elections—a clear sign that Taiwan’s ties with Honduras remain strong.

Bautista has worked for the current Honduran administration as customs director since 2016. During her time with the agency, she was in charge of the automation and acceleration of cross-border trade, as well as reducing bribery among customs officials.

Just hours before leaving that position in preparation for her new assignment in Taiwan, Bautista gave an interview to the Honduran newspaper La Tribuna, in which she touted her achievements during her tenure and talked about her previous work experience and education in Costa Rica and the United States.

Upon arriving in Taiwan on December 16, Bautista met with Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), Taiwan’s foreign minister. In the meeting, Wu emphasized the importance of Honduras to Taiwan as a Central American ally. Bautista pledged to increase exchanges between the two countries by drawing from her past experience in the Honduran public and private sectors.

Bautista also met with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to present her credentials as the new ambassador of Honduras.

New #Honduran Ambassador Bautista Guevara presented her credentials today, and we look forward to working with @embhntw to strengthen bilateral ties & deepen cooperation in public health, agriculture, education, technology, & tourism. pic.twitter.com/5o54JcE8ql

— 蔡英文 Tsai Ing-wen (@iingwen) December 19, 2019

During the meeting, Tsai said she looks forward to working with the new ambassador to bring fresh developments in bilateral relations by encouraging Taiwanese companies to invest in Honduras, an ally of the Republic of China (ROC) since 1941.

“In the future, we will actively invite Honduran companies to attend trade shows and exhibitions in Taiwan,” Tsai added.

Bautista’s position had been empty since Rafael Sierra, the previous ambassador, left his post in April 2019 to take a new assignment in Washington. During Sierra’s tenure, trade between Taiwan and Honduras improved, with the Central American country becoming Taiwan’s 78th largest trading partner. Prior to Sierra’s appointment, Honduras had been 94th.

Crucially, the ambassadorship was vacant for a short time. While Sierra left his post in April, Bautista resigned her previous position in October, indicating her appointment to the Taiwan post was already in the works.

The last time there was a change in ambassadors, the position was left empty for 18 months, creating speculation that Honduras could be plotting a switch in diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing.

This time around, the change has gone much quicker⁠—and rather than waiting until after Saturday’s vote, the new Honduran ambassador has taken her position prior to Taiwan’s elections.

Bautista’s quick appointment signals an improvement in ties between Taiwan and Honduras and shows that the current Honduran administration of President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who took office in 2014 and was reelected in 2018, places considerable importance on its ties with Taiwan.

Last year, Honduras First Lady Ana Hernandez and Vice President Olga Alvarado made official visits to Taiwan, highlighting the good relationship between the current Honduran government and Tsai, who visited Honduras during her most recent trip to Central America and the Caribbean in 2018.

Taiwan and Honduras have also collaborated beyond high-level diplomatic visits. In October, Taiwan’s foreign ministry, the Honduras embassy in Taiwan and the Honduran Association of Taiwan collaborated in the organization of the 2019 Copa America Taiwan and Latin Food Festival, which took place in Fu Jen University Stadium.

During the organization of the event, Jose Heliodoro Zamora, the first secretary at the Honduras embassy in Taiwan, said it was very important for Taiwan’s allies to support the nation and cooperate with it in any way possible.

The nomination of a new Honduran ambassador is a welcome development for Tsai, who faces a battle for reelection against Kaohsiung mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) on Saturday.

Last year, Kiribati and the Solomon Islands switched their diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. In total, seven countries have been coaxed by China into dropping their ties with Taiwan since Tsai took power in 2016.

This recent manifestation of stable ties with an ally, Honduras, will help the Tsai administration bolster its image as she and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) fend off criticism from the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for losing the seven former allies.

It’s not the only good sign for Taiwan on the international stage.

In November, Reuters reported that Tuvalu had rejected an offer from Beijing to build artificial islands in the Pacific island country, helping them combat rising sea levels. The proposal was seen as an attempt to lure Tuvalu into switching ties from Taiwan to China. Tuvalu’s foreign minister, Simon Kofe, told Reuters that ties between Tuvalu and Taiwan “are the strongest they’ve ever been.”

This demonstrates that, regardless of Beijing’s economic incentives, there are still countries who value the contributions Taiwan has made to their governments and prefer to maintain their existing ties with Taipei.

Chinese leadership is known to prefer that the KMT take back the presidency and legislature from the DPP, and with Taiwan’s elections quickly approaching, Beijing has surely explored the possibility of snatching another diplomatic ally from Taipei.

The appointment of Bautista, however, makes it clear that Honduras is not going anywhere.

(Cover photo via Taiwan Presidential Office, CC BY 2.0)