President Ma meets U.S Secretary of State Clinton

   San Salvador, El Salvador - President Ma Ying-jeou met U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton briefly in El Salvador Sunday in a rare informal encounter between high-level officials of the two countries.

     The two met at a state banquet hosted by outgoing Salvadoran President Antonio Saca, during which Ma shared a table with Clinton.

     Clinton took the initiative to greet and shake hands with Ma, and Ma addressed the secretary of state as "Mrs. Clinton" and introduced himself as "the president of Taiwan."

     Ma told Clinton that Taiwan is very grateful to the United States for the assistance it has provided in improving relations between Taiwan and China and that Taiwan will try its best to maintain stability across the Taiwan Strait.

     The governments of Taiwan and the United States have maintained no formal contact since diplomatic ties were severed in 1979.

     A similar informal meeting took place in Panama in 2003 between then President Chen Shui-bian and then U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell during the Central American nation's 100th National Day celebration.

     Ma is in El Salvador to attend the inauguration of Salvadoran President-elect Mauricio Funes. This is the final leg of his three-nation Central American tour that has also taken him to Belize and Guatemala.

    Also in El Salvador Monday, Ma held talks with Honduras President Manuel Zelaya, during which the two leaders reached an agreement on a proposal for Taiwan to provide hydraulic power technology to Honduras.

    The proposal, which was put forth by Zelaya, was intended as a substitude for a previous plan put forward by the state-owned Taiwan Power Company to invest more than US$360 million in helping Honduras build a hydraulic power plant, said Presidential Office spokesman Wang Yu-chi.

The investment project was canceled after Taiwan's legislature nixed its funding.

    According to Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming, the power company, which lost more than NT$100 billion (US$3.09 billion) in 2008, cannot carry out the investment project without the budget.

    Providing technical assistance to Honduras instead will be a good solution for the company, Yiin said.

    During the meeting, Ma and Zelaya also reached consensus on proposals for Taiwan to help Honduras develop clean energy and boost community development.

    Ma is expected to visit Honduras during his next Central American trip slated for late June, when he will also go to Panama to attend the inauguration of Panamanian President-elect Ricardo Martinelli.

SOURCE: http://chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/foreign-affairs/2009/06/02/210593/President-meets.htm