Tegucigalpa. The president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, announced that she will promote the opening of “official” relations with China, without specifying whether this will imply a break in traditional ties with Taiwan, which she urged not to fall into the “trap” of Beijing.
On her Twitter account, the president said yesterday that she has “instructed Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina to manage the opening of official relations with the People’s Republic of China.”
The Honduran Foreign Minister, Enrique Reina, stated in an interview on local television that the measure was out of pragmatism, not ideology, but he clarified that his country will maintain trade relations with Taiwan.
Reina said that economic needs and Taiwan’s refusal to extend assistance pushed Honduras to seek ties with China.
“Unfortunately the needs are enormous and we have not seen this response” from Taiwan, Reina said in a Channel 5 forum.
Reina met on January 1 with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng in Brazil, within the framework of the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
With a loan of about 300 million dollars, China financed the Patuca III dam, inaugurated in January 2021 by then-president Juan Orlando Hernández.
celebration and warning
China yesterday celebrated “the pertinent statement by the Honduran side,” according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. “China is willing to develop friendly and cooperative relations with Honduras and other countries in the world on the basis of the one-China principle,” the spokesperson said.
Instead, Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Wednesday urged the Central American country to “consider carefully and not fall into China’s trap and make the wrong decision to damage the longstanding friendship between Taiwan and Honduras.”
On Wednesday morning, the Honduran ambassador in Taipei, Harold Burgos, met with the Taiwanese vice minister of Foreign Affairs, the island’s foreign ministry said.
“The real goal of the Chinese dictatorial regime’s false and attractive promises is to take away our diplomatic allies, and suppress Taiwan’s international space,” the Taiwanese ministry said in a statement after the meeting.
Alexander Huang, a political analyst at Taipei’s Tamkang University, said Taiwan has limited resources to resist China’s diplomatic might.
