Honduras to open official relations with China 

Honduran President Xiomara Castro has asked the country’s foreign minister to open official relations with China.

Castro floated the idea of starting relations with China and cutting ties with Taiwan during her electoral campaign but said in January 2022 she hoped to maintain ties with Taiwan.

Castro’s directive comes ahead of a planned trip by Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen to Central America next month where she is expected to visit Guatemala and Belize.

More sensitively, Tsai will transit the United States and meet U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, which is likely to anger China.

China does not allow countries with which it has diplomatic relations to maintain official ties with Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taiwan strongly disputes.

Opposition Honduran lawmaker Tomas Zambrano told local TV the decision would likely affect the country’s relationship with the U.S., its top trade partner, noting that many families depend on remittances sent from the north.

The U.S. has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan but is its most important international backer and arms supplier, a consistent source of friction in Sino-U.S. relations.

“We have to look at things very pragmatically and seek the best benefit for the Honduran people,” Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina told local TV on Tuesday.

Taking lawmaker questions in parliament on Wednesday, Chen Chin-kung, deputy head of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, said he “absolutely did not rule out” the possibility of China trying to exert pressure ahead of Tsai’s trip.

Taiwan has accused China of luring its allies with pledges of massive amounts of loans, which Beijing denies.

Also Read: China denounces US arm-twisting in Honduras election

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said it had expressed serious concern to the Honduran government and urged it to consider its decision carefully and not “fall into China’s trap.”

A source familiar with the situation in Taiwan said the island needed to exhaust “every possible means” to maintain diplomatic ties with Honduras.

Meanwhile, China’s foreign ministry said it welcomed the Honduran president’s statement.

“China stands ready to establish diplomatic ties with countries in line with the One-China principle,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing on Wednesday.

The Chinese ambassador in Mexico, Zhang Run, earlier tweeted that the One-China principle, which holds that China and Taiwan are part of one country, is the consensus of the international community.

“Congratulations Honduras on this correct decision to embrace that principle! Hopefully, it will be fulfilled,” Zhang said.

Zainab Sa’id