China says no conditions on Honduras diplomatic deal
Honduras is the last Latin American country to establish formal diplomatic relations with Beijing and to end relations with Taiwan.
China says there were no conditions attached to a recent decision by Honduras to end decades-long diplomatic ties with Taiwan and establish formal ties with Beijing.
China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning made the statement Monday, a day after China’s and Honduran foreign ministers signed a joint communique to establish ties in Beijing.
“Diplomatic ties are not for trade,” Mao said, responding to a question about whether Beijing would give the government in Tegucigalpa the help it reportedly requested from Taiwan.
Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina wrote in a letter earlier this month asking for a $2.5 billion loan to Taiwan, according to the Reuters news agency. The loan was intended to pay off debts and to provide funds for the construction of a hospital and a dam, the news agency reported, citing a copy of the letter.
Honduras subsequently denied it had demanded $2.5 billion in aid, while Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said Honduras had demanded “a high price” for maintaining relations.
For its part, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen dismissed Honduras’s action as “part of a series of coercion and intimidation by China”.
Mao, meanwhile, said on Monday: “We want to tell the Taiwanese authorities that Taiwan’s independence is a dead end, dollar diplomacy is not going ahead, [and] all plots that go against the grain of history are doomed to fail.
Fight for recognition
China and Taiwan have been embroiled in a battle for diplomatic recognition since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
China considers Taiwan as one of its provinces with no right to interstate ties, a view strongly contested by the democratically elected government in Taipei.
Beijing has spent billions to gain recognition for this “One China” policy. Observers note that a wave of Chinese development and political involvement has led several Latin American countries to shift their diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing.
For example, Costa Rica formalized relations with China in 2007. And since 2017, Panama, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic have established relations with Beijing and cut ties with Taiwan.
In the statement announcing ties with Beijing, Honduras’ foreign ministry said on Saturday: “Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory.”
The move leaves Taiwan with only 13 countries officially recognizing its sovereignty. Several powerful Western countries, including the United States, nevertheless lend support to the island, although they officially recognize Beijing’s government.
Taipei’s remaining diplomatic partners include a handful of Latin American countries and several South Pacific island nations. Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, in southern Africa also has diplomatic ties with Taiwan, as does Vatican City.
The latest change comes as Taiwanese President Tsai embarks this week on a 10-day trip to diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize, including a brief stopover in the US.
An upcoming election in Paraguay is also widely seen as a referendum on the country’s diplomatic relations with the island.