China establishes diplomatic relations with Honduras


by Gustavo Palencia, Ben Blanchard and Joe Cash

BEIJING/TEGUCIGALPA/TAIPEI (Reuters) – China established diplomatic ties with Honduras on Sunday after the Central American country severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan.

China announced that Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Honduran counterpart Eduardo Enrique Reina had signed a diplomatic recognition agreement in Beijing.

The announcement of the end of diplomatic relations between Tegucigalpa and Taipei was expected, as Eduardo Enrique Reina visited China this week to promote the establishment of diplomatic ties after Honduran President Xiomara Castro said his government would seek to establish relations with Beijing.

In a statement released Saturday evening, the Honduran Foreign Ministry said it recognized the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government representing all of China, and that Taiwan was “an inseparable part of Chinese territory”.

China regards Taiwan as an integral part of its territory and does not allow countries that have diplomatic relations with it to cultivate official ties with Taipei.

Taiwan’s foreign minister said shortly after the announcement on Sunday that Xiomara Castro and his government had “always had illusions” about China, and that Beijing had never stopped “seducing” them. .

“The (Xiomara) Castro government also asked us for billions of dollars in economic aid and compared the amounts of aid programs from Taiwan and China,” Wu said.

He added that the Honduran foreign minister had written to Taiwan on March 13, the day before Xiomara Castro’s announcement, to ask for aid of 2.5 billion dollars (2.32 billion euros).

The Honduran Foreign Minister told Reuters last week that this amount was “not a donation” but “a negotiated refinancing mechanism”.

The US State Department said that while the choice of Honduras is a sovereign decision, it was important to note that China “(made) often promises in exchange for diplomatic recognition that it (fulfilled) ultimately not.”

Honduras and Taiwan had established diplomatic relations in 1941, while the government of the Republic of China, the official name of Taiwan, was still in China, before going into exile on the island in 1949, at the end of civil war.

Taiwan now has only thirteen diplomatic allies.

(With contributions from Michael Martina; French version Camille Raynaud)

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