In Beijing on Sunday, March 26, the Chinese and Honduran foreign ministers toasted a new page in their shared history. The two countries have established diplomatic relations, and Honduras had severed its ties with Taiwan a few hours earlier.
Taipei, which denounces Beijing’s “coercion and intimidation,” is now recognized by only 13 countries in the world.
“China and Honduras have just established diplomatic relations,” tweeted Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry. His brief message is accompanied by a photo of Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang shaking hands with his Honduran counterpart Enrique Reina, who is currently in Beijing.
China considers the island of Taiwan, home to 23 million people, to be one of its provinces that it has not reunited with the rest of its territory since the end of the civil war.
The conflict, concluded in 1949, pitted the communists (who eventually took power in mainland China) against the nationalist army (which was forced to retreat to the island).
In seven decades, the communist army has never been able to conquer the island, which has remained under the control of the ROC — which once ruled all of China and now governs only Taiwan.
>> To see, our reporter: “Taiwan holds its breath in the face of Chinese threat”
Honduras “is under illusions,” says Taipei
In the name of the “One China” principle, Beijing bans foreign countries from having diplomatic relations with Taipei. However, the island has forged international partnerships through other channels.
In a press release from his ministry published on Saturday evening, Enrique Reina said he had “told Taiwan the decision to sever diplomatic relations” “at the direction” of Honduras President Xiomara Castro.
“The government of the Republic of Honduras recognizes the existence of one China in the world and that the government of the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all of China,” the same source said. “Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory,” the ministry continued, adding that it had pledged to have no official ties or contacts with Taiwan from Saturday.
In response, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Sunday accused Honduras of “self-deceiving” about Chinese promises of economic aid. “China hasn’t stopped attracting Honduras with financial incentives,” he lamented at a news conference in Taipei.
“The disruption of diplomatic ties between our country and Honduras is part of a series of coercion and intimidation by China,” President Tsai Ing-wen’s office said in a statement. “China has long diminished (Taiwan’s) place on the international stage, unilaterally endangering regional peace and stability.”
Taiwan’s diplomatic isolation
Chinese authorities have been attempting to diplomatically isolate Taiwan since 2016 and the election of a pro-independence party president on the island. In recent years, Beijing has notably wrested several Latin American allies from Taipei, including the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua.
States that still maintain diplomatic ties with Taiwan include the Vatican, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Paraguay, Pacific Island countries and Haiti.
Eduardo Enrique Reina on March 15 had cited Honduras’ “tremendous hardship” and Taiwan’s refusal to increase its aid to justify a desire to establish ties with Beijing.
The newly elected Xiomara Castro had promised during the election campaign to recognize the People’s Republic of China.
Since the inauguration of Tsai Ing-wen, who was re-elected in 2020, Beijing has been exerting military, economic and diplomatic pressure on Taipei, which is threatening to intervene militarily to prevent such a scenario.
At the same time, however, international support for Taipei has grown. Several delegations of Western parliamentarians or ministers have visited the island in recent years, although there are no diplomatic ties between their countries and Taiwan.
With AFP