PRESIDENT TSAI TO VISIT FOUR DIPLOMATIC ALLIES|蔡總統二度出訪 元月訪中美洲4友邦

President Tsai Ing-wen will make her second overseas visit on Jan 7. She will visit four diplomatic allies in central America. It has not yet been announced if or where she will transit the US, leading to speculation on Chinese pressure, which the Presidential Office dismissed as overthinking The Presidential Office announced that from Jan 7 to 15, President Tsai will travel to central America to visit four diplomatic allies, Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Salvador. In Nicaragua she will attend President Daniel Ortega's inauguration. Tsai will take an EVA Airways plane. It has not yet been announced where she will transit which has led to some speculation about pressure from China. ==ALEX HUANG Presidential Office spokesperson== No, that really overthinking it, its simply being worked on, its just an administrative matter. Since the controversial phone call with President-elect Trump, China openly voiced the wish that the US would not allow President Tsai transit there. Thus concerns have been expressed on the place and level of transit that Tsai will be accorded by President Obama. ==LUO CHIH-CHENG DPP legislator== After the phone call with Trump, in regard to face, we do have some status, but that is not with the current government of President Obama, we have to wait for after Jan. 20 for anything to be effective, after Trump takes office, then we can see what Taiwan US relations may be like, that's the key. Now it is still the Obama administration, so we shouldn't expect any sort of emphasis. Former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cheng Chien-jen said that the Taiwan-US relationship is quite good anyway, and the main motive of her trip is to affirm relations with the diplomatic allies. ==CHENG CHIEN-JEN former Minister of Foreign Affairs== Currently these four diplomatic allies are stable, the main motive of the trip is to affirm the relationship, whoever is president during the period of their presidency, they all need to visit diplomatic allies to strengthen our relationship with the allies. Due to China's constant pressure, the ROC's diplomatic space is severely curtailed and Tsai's second visit abroad in eight months shows how important it is to affirm relations with diplomatic allies. TRANSLATED BY：CLARE LEAR 總統府公布總統蔡英文將在下個月7日到15日，前往中美洲四個邦交國訪問，包括宏都拉斯、尼加拉瓜、瓜地馬拉、薩爾瓦多，其中尼加拉瓜將參加總統奧德嘉就職典禮，蔡英文此行將搭乘長榮航空專機，至於美國過境地點將在下週公布，但也引發外界關注是否受到中國打壓。 ==總統府發言人 黃重諺== 沒有 這是過度猜測 沒有這樣的問題 對 那純粹就是在工作上 也就是行政工作上的問題 事實上蔡英文和美國下任總統川普通話之後，台美中三角關係備受關注，中國還曾公開希望美國不讓蔡英文過境，各界關心美國歐巴馬政府安排蔡英文的過境地點與規格，是否會因此受到影響。 ==民進黨立委 羅致政== 在上次川蔡通過電話之後 事實上面子的問題 我們已經有了 重要是裡子的部分 那裡子當然不是跟 現在的歐巴馬政府打交道 真正的裡子是等到1月20日 川普上台之後 我們要得到什麼樣的 台美關係的提昇 這才是重點 所以現在這個過境 因為是在歐巴馬政府時期 所以我們也不用過度的強調 另外蔡英文此行出訪的四個邦交國，前外交部長程建人分析目前與我國外交關係還不錯，蔡英文此行應該主要是鞏固邦誼。 ==前外交部長 程建人== 就目前看來這四個國家 是安定的 沒有問題的 我想她最主要是鞏固嘛 不管是誰做這個總統 在他擔任總統期間 都會儘量到有外交關係 有邦交的國家去訪問 促進我們跟其他國家的關係 由於兩岸關係影響，我國外交處境相當艱困，蔡英文總統上任不到八個月就要出訪二次，就是要為國家拚外交。 記者 綜合報導