2023-06-11 21:00:27
Honduras opened an embassy in China this Sunday, 11. The action comes after the Central American country severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan earlier this year, according to information from the Chinese state broadcaster, CCTV.
The Honduran embassy in Beijing was opened by foreign ministers from both countries. Honduran President Xiomara Castro is in China for an official visit. She will meet with President Xi Jinping.
In March, Tegucigalpa, capital of Honduras, ended its decades-long relationship with Taipei. Subsequently, it established diplomatic relations with Beijing.
China officially considers the island of Taiwan to be part of its territory. The Chinese Communist Party demands that countries with which it has diplomatic and trade ties recognize this position.
With the new diplomatic decision by Honduras, Taiwan now has formal diplomatic relations with only 13 countries, mainly poor and developing nations in Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. In South America, the Paraguay is the only one to formally recognize the island as an independent country
Honduras became the fifth Latin American country in just six years to cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan — and strengthen ties with China. Panama, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Nicaragua had adopted the same course since 2017.
The Honduran government stated that it “recognizes the existence of a single China in the world” and that Taiwan “forms an inalienable part of Chinese territory”.
According to the foreign ministry of the Central American country, the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, leads “the only legitimate government that represents all of China”. Honduras and Taiwan had maintained diplomatic ties since 1941. For the past 82 years, there had been no formal relations between Honduras and Beijing.
On the other hand, China has offered Hondurans possible investments in the productive sector and in infrastructure. The objective is to bring the Central American country into its zone of influence.
O Panama, for example, is negotiating an agreement with the Chinese to export its products. In this sense, El Salvador also heard from Beijing the promise that the most modern football stadium in Central America will be built in the country.
Learn more about Taiwan in the special report by the West’s envoy to the country, assistant editor Edilson Salgueiro: Taiwan is not China
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