Honduras President Xiomara Castro announced Tuesday that her government will seek to establish diplomatic relations with China. Which would imply severing relations with Taiwan. The switch would leave Taiwan recognized by only 13 countries as China spends billions to win recognition for its “One China” policy.
Castro said on her Twitter account that she instructed Honduran Foreign Affairs Minister Eduardo Reina to start negotiations with China. And her intention is “expand frontiers freely in concert with the nations of the world.”
During her presidential campaign in 2021 she said Honduras would look for relations with China if elected. But once in power, her government backtracked on those comments. Stayed in their relation with Taiwan.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had “expressed serious concerns to the Honduran government.
“Our country has made it clear to Honduras many times that Taiwan is a sincere and reliable cooperative partner to our allies. Honduras is requested to consider carefully and not fall into China’s trap or make wrong decisions that damage the long-term friendship between Taiwan and Honduras.”
Beijing has not commented on the issue.
China claims self-ruled, democratic Taiwan is part of its territory, to be brought under its control by force if necessary. Refuses most contacts with countries that maintain formal ties with Taiwan, and threatens retaliation against countries merely for increasing contacts.
It’s not clear what made Honduras’ government change its mind. However, China, which is building a massive dam in Honduras, generally uses trade and investment as incentives for switching ties.
The loss of Honduras would leave Taiwan with formal diplomatic ties just 13 sovereign states, including Vatican City. In Latin America, it also has relations with Belize and Paraguay, with most of its remaining allies being small, poor island nations in the Caribbean and South Pacific.
Despite China’s campaign of isolation, Taiwan retains robust informal ties with more than 100 other countries.
