MADRID, 26 March (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Honduran Government announced the severance of diplomatic relations with Taiwan this Saturday, days after Honduran President Xiomara Castro ordered a resumption of relations with China.
The Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the country’s administration “recognises the existence of only one China in the world, and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all of China.”
“Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory,” the ministry portfolio said in a statement, in which Tegucigalpa stressed that he “committed to never again form any official relationship or contact with Taiwan.”
In announcing the resumption of relations with Beijing, Castro claimed that he took the decision as “a sign of his determination to comply with the Government Plan and freely expand borders in harmony with the nations of the world.”
It was therefore unknown how this decision would affect relations with the Latin American country of Taipei, as China established ties with countries that did not recognize the island as an independent country.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also reacted to the announcement, urging Honduran officials to “be careful not to fall into China’s trap and make a wrong decision that would damage the long friendship.”
Following the executive’s decision, a delegation from the country headed by Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina traveled to China this week to “advance the start of relations between the two countries”.
The rupture of relations between Honduras and Taiwan reduces the number of countries that recognize the island’s independence to 13. Since 2007, four more Latin American countries have cut ties with Taipei to engage with China (Costa Rica in 2007; Panama in 2017; El Salvador in 2018 and Nicaragua in 2021).
Source: Noti Merica
