Taiwan protests and expresses its "deep dissatisfaction" with the visit of the head of Honduran diplomacy to China, and announced on Thursday March 23 that it had recalled its ambassador to Honduras. "Honduras ignored more than 80 years of [Taiwan-Honduras] friendship by sending its foreign minister to China, which seriously hurt the feelings of our government and people," the ministry said. Taiwanese Foreign Affairs in a statement.
The announcement came following a visit to China by Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina to discuss establishing diplomatic ties with Beijing. The minister was accompanied by deputy Xiomara Zelaya, the daughter of President Castro, according to government sources. "The minister went there [...] on the instruction of President Xiomara Castro," Presidential Minister Rodolfo Pastor told local daily El Heraldo.
China claims the democratic and self-governing island of Taiwan as part of its territory which it intends to take back, including by force if necessary. On March 14, the Central American country announced through its president, Xiomara Castro, that it would establish "official relations with the People's Republic of China". A decision immediately welcomed by Beijing, but which threatens the ties that Taiwan maintains with Honduras.
Theater of diplomatic rivalry
Honduras offered Taiwan to have "greater relations with Tegucigalpa, in line with the great needs of the Honduran people", but the response was not positive, Reina told local television Canal 5 at the time.
In the name of the principle of "one China", the communist power in Beijing does not accept diplomatic relations with both it and Taipei. Any recognition by a country of the People's Republic of China leads de facto to the severance of ties between it and Taiwan.
Central America has been a theater of diplomatic rivalry for Beijing and Taipei since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. Nicaragua, El Salvador, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica have broken with Taiwan in recent years in favor of from Beijing.
If Honduras officially breaks with Taiwan, the island would only have 13 countries with which it maintains official diplomatic ties, having lost several Latin American allies in recent years.
Relations between Beijing and Taipei have soured since the 2016 election as Taiwanese president of Tsai Ing-wen, from a party traditionally in favor of a formal declaration of independence for the island. Since then, Beijing has snatched the diplomatic recognition of eight countries from Taipei.
