TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Honduran scholarship recipients can continue their studies until the end of this semester, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson Jeff Y. J. Liu (劉永健) said at a press conference on Tuesday (March 28).

MOFA will provide them with a one-way flight back to Honduras to minimize the fallout from severed diplomatic relations, Liberty Times reported Liu as saying. As a free, democratic, and open society, Taiwan is more conducive to learning, while China is an authoritarian, closed society that does not allow freedom of speech, he said.

According to the Ministry of Education, there were 359 Honduran students studying at National Taiwan University during the 2022 academic year, including 220 degree students, 138 Mandarin language students, and one exchange student.

Among them, 104 had MOFA scholarships, the foreign ministry said. There are currently no Taiwanese students in Honduras.

Liu said Taiwan does not compete with China in dollar diplomacy. Taiwan's foreign aid model is project-oriented, with the purpose of benefiting local governments and people, he said.

Taiwan will continue to uphold its principles, fulfill its international responsibilities, and give back to the global community, the spokesperson said. He added that the 82-year-long friendship between Taiwan and Honduras was ruined due to China’s dollar diplomacy.

Liu said that freedom, democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights are the trend of the times. Any action that goes against this trend is doomed to end in failure, he said.

Honduras officially broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan on Sunday (March 26), prompting Taiwan to reciprocate.