Honduras has announced that it is ending its diplomatic relations with Taiwan, a move that will allow the Central American country to establish formal ties with China. In a statement on Twitter, the Honduran foreign ministry said that it recognised “the existence of just one China in the world” and that “Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory”. Honduras has notified Taiwan of its decision to break ties and will not return to having any relationship or official contact with Taipei. The move leaves Taiwan recognised by just 13 sovereign states.
China and Taiwan have been battling for diplomatic recognition since they split amid civil war in 1949, with Beijing spending billions to win recognition for its “One China” policy. China views Taiwan as one of its provinces with no right to state-to-state ties, a view that the democratically-elected government in Taipei strongly disputes.
Honduras’s decision to end ties with Taiwan had been expected after the Honduran foreign minister travelled to China last week to open relations and President Xiomara Castro said her government would start ties with Beijing. Taiwan foreign minister Joseph Wu confirmed the severing of ties at a news conference in Taipei and said it would close its embassy in Honduras and withdraw its ambassador there.
Wu said that Castro and her government had “always had illusions” about China. He added that the Honduran foreign minister had written to Taiwan on March 13, the day before Castro’s original announcement, demanding a total of $2.45bn in aid, including the construction of a hospital and a dam and the writing off of debt. Wu said that it felt like what they wanted was money, not a hospital.
Honduras is the ninth diplomatic ally that Taipei has lost to Beijing since Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen first took office in May 2016. Taiwan still has ties with Belize, Paraguay and Guatemala in Latin America, and Vatican City. Most of its remaining partners are island nations in the Caribbean and South Pacific, along with Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, in southern Africa.
Despite China’s campaign of isolation, Taiwan retains robust informal ties with more than 100 other countries, most notably the United States. The Honduran decision to cut ties prompted warnings from the de facto US embassy in Taipei on Saturday that China often makes promises in exchange for recognition that remain unfulfilled. After a recent meeting with US officials, the Honduran foreign minister said Washington “respects” Honduras’s decision to move towards establishing formal diplomatic ties with China. Taiwan disputed the foreign minister’s comments.