Honduras will establish “official” ties with Beijing, President Xiomara Castro announced on Tuesday, asking Taipei not to take this “bad decision” immediately.
“I have instructed Foreign Minister Eduardo Reyna to manage the opening of official relations with the People’s Republic of China,” Ms. Castro announced on Twitter, without explicitly mentioning the future of relations with Taipei.
Communist China, which claims sovereignty over Taiwan, does not accept that countries can maintain diplomatic relations with it and Taipei. A country’s recognition of Beijing effectively leads to a split between it and Taiwan.
“We urge Honduras to think carefully about not falling into China’s trap by making a bad decision that could damage the long-standing friendship between Taiwan and Honduras,” Taiwan’s foreign ministry responded in a statement.
Xiomara Castro, who will take office in early 2022, announced her intention to recognize communist China “immediately” before taking office.
AFP
But Tegucigalpa later said ties with Taiwan would continue after Taiwanese Vice President William Lai visited Ms. Castro’s inauguration.
Castro’s tweet “doesn’t make it clear what kind of relationship Honduras wants to have with Beijing,” noted Honduran analyst Raul Pineda. “If it comes to diplomatic relations, it could lead to a break with Taiwan and withdrawal from the US,” he added.
“Right now, Sino-US relations are very tense, and from this point of view it would be a very regrettable decision,” said the analyst, quoted by Ms. Castro’s government.
Dams funded by Beijing
On January 1, on the sidelines of the inauguration of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, the Honduran diplomatic chief met Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xi Feng.
On February 2, Mr. Reena announced talks with China to build a hydroelectric dam.
Beijing has already funded another dam in Honduras with $300 million, to be opened in 2021 by then-President Juan Orlando Hernandez.
Latin America has been an important diplomatic battleground between Beijing and Taipei since 1949, when the Communists seized power in mainland China and the Nationalist government took refuge on the island of Taiwan.
Along with Washington, all Central American countries have been tied to Taiwan for decades. But today, only Honduras, Guatemala and Belize maintain relations with the island. Costa Rica (in 2007), Panama (2017), El Salvador (2018) and Nicaragua (2021) broke with Taipei and recognized Beijing.
Only 14 countries in the world recognize Taiwan, including Paraguay, Haiti, the Vatican and several small island nations in the Caribbean and Pacific.
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