Ortega apologizes

Ma expressed, earlier, his concern after Ortega did not meet him at the airport upon arriving in Managua Friday morning and skipped a state banquet he was supposed to host for Ma later in the day, according to a senior official.

Following Ortega's perceived snubs Friday, Taiwan demanded a clear apology from Nicaragua's government and threatened to suspend aid to the country if Ortega did not show up as scheduled to attend a site dedication ceremony for a product display center, a government source said Saturday in Managua.

After realizing Taiwan's strong feelings on the matter, Ortega headed Saturday to the hotel where Ma was staying to offer his profound apology for not appearing at the banquet.

Diplomatic ties between the two countries will be in no way affected after Ma accepted Ortega's explanation and apology for his failure to appear at the state banquet, the senior official confirmed.

Speculation has arisen, however, that Ortega's absences could be in response to attempts by Ma's administration to track remittances made by the administration of former President Chen Shui-bian to Nicaragua that did not conform with normal diplomatic practice.

Upon his arrival at the hotel, the Nicaraguan president hugged Ma warmly and chatted with his Taiwanese counterpart for 10 minutes before personally driving him to a banquet hosted by Taiwan's expatriate community in the Central American country and then attending the product display center ceremony, according to the official.

Taking blame

At the banquet, Ortega gave assurances that Nicaragua would maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

Taiwan's ambassador to Nicaragua, Wu Ching-mu, offered to resign on Friday night from his post to take responsibility for Ortega's absence.

The Nicaraguan leader also made a personal apology to Wu by hugging him and saying that he himself should shoulder the blame for causing so much trouble.

Orgeta praised Wu for his hard work in arranging Ma's visit to Nicaragua.

Accepting Ortega's explanation, President Ma said that he could understand the importance of the meeting between Ortega and Zelaya because it is closely related to the future of the two countries.

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