Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Wednesday that she has instructed her foreign minister to establish official relations with China.
In a statement published on her Twitter page, Castro stressed that the decision was a sign of her “determination to comply with the government plan and expand the borders freely in concert with the nations of the world.”
Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina, for his part, stressed that the government has “to look at things very pragmatically and seek the best benefit for the Honduran people.”
The Taiwanese Foreign Ministry reacted to Castro’s announcement by voicing “serious concerns” and urging Tegusigalpa “not fall into China’s trap” and destroy the long-term relationship between the two nations.
Currently, Taiwan has diplomatic ties with and is, thus, officially recognized by 14 countries — Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Paraguay, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Eswatini, Tuvalu, and the Vatican. Taipei also maintains economic and cultural ties with some other states, while having no official diplomatic relations.
In recent years, a number of countries, including El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, Burkina Faso, Panama, Kiribati, the Solomon Islands and Nicaragua, decided to cut ties with Taiwan and establish official relations with China instead.
Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan — a territory with its own elected government — maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign states with Taipei and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.