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

Diplomatic ties between the two countries will not be affected after Ma accepted Ortega's explanation for not appearing at the state banquet, the senior official said.

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 official 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.

Ortega explained he could not make it because he was having discussions with Honduran President Manuel Zelaya, who was in Nicaragua at the time, on the emergency situation in Honduras, the Taiwanese official said.

Ortega said the two spoke all night about the situation before he saw Zelaya off Saturday to Washington D.C., with Zelaya was to attend an emergency meeting over the Honduran coup held by the Organization of American States, the official said.

Zelaya was ousted in a military coup June 28 when troops arrested him in his pyjamas and sent him into exile in Costa Rica.

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

Upon his arrival at the hotel, the Nicaraguan president hugged his Taiwanese counterpart warmly and chatted with Ma for 10 minutes before 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.

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

As for an offer Friday night by Taiwan's ambassador to Nicaragua, Wu Ching-mu, to resign from his post to take responsibility for the matter, Ortega also apologized to Wu by hugging him and saying that he himself should take blame for causing so much trouble.

He praised Wu for his hard work to arrange for 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.

(By Huang Juei-hung and Y.L. Kao)