Theomara Castro Announces Winning Election, Says He Wants to "Break Diplomatic Relations" with Taiwan

Source: Global Times

[Global Times reporter Chen Xiaohang, Wang Yi] The results of the election in The Central American country of Honduras on November 29 have attracted great attention from all sides, and a major point in the eyes of the media is "whether Taiwan will once again lose a 'country with diplomatic relations'." The country held a presidential election on the 28th. As of the evening of the 29th Beijing time, more than half of the votes that have been counted show that the opposition candidate, Theomara Castro, received more than 53% of the vote, significantly ahead of the ruling party candidate Asfora's 34%. Castro has declared he has won the election. Castro has been given many labels, such as the promise of becoming "the first female president in the history of Honduras". But what has been mentioned by the media just as much is that during the campaign, she said that after winning the election, she would establish diplomatic relations with Chinese mainland and "break diplomatic relations" with Taiwan. Taiwan and the United States have recently engaged in various activities to prevent Honduras from establishing diplomatic relations with Chinese mainland. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on the 29th that the one-China principle is a universally recognized basic norm for international relations and a universal consensus of the international community. Opposing "Taiwan independence" and separatism and adhering to the one-China principle are the trend of the times and the aspirations of the people. We are willing to develop friendly and cooperative relations with all countries in the world on the basis of adhering to the one-China principle.

Theomara Castro (Image source: Taiwan media)

"Castro won the election on Sunday with an overwhelming margin", Reuters said on the 29th, the election seems to be going well, in stark contrast to 4 years ago, when the election results caused widespread doubts, and the confrontation between the public and the military and police eventually led to the death of more than 20 people. But this year, the ruling party's candidate, Asfora, while not acknowledging defeat, called on supporters to be patient and wait for the final result. The country's business leaders were quick to congratulate Castro, who pledged to "go hand in hand" with the private sector.

Reuters said Castro's husband was overthrown in a coup d'état 12 years ago, and its supporters danced outside her office on the 29th to celebrate the left's return to power in the country. Critics portrayed her as "a dangerous militant" and noted that her husband had close ties to the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. After the preliminary election results came out, Venezuelan President Maduro congratulated Castro on his victory, and Castro thanked Maduro on Twitter.

"We have reversed authoritarianism," Castro said on the evening of the 28th, saying that she would form a national reconciliation government from Monday to "eliminate corruption, drug trafficking, and organized crime." According to The New York Times, honduras' current president, Hernandez, was extremely unpopular, and that all candidates were trying to dissociate themselves from him, "his tenure was characterized by rampant corruption, a weak economy and allegations of drug trafficking." It was the "extremely unpopular" president who made a surprise visit to Taiwan before the election in mid-November, and in a meeting with Tsai Ing-wen, he said that this was his fourth visit to Taiwan and wanted to express a very clear and firm message, that is, "between friends, hardships see the truth." Public opinion, including taiwanese media, generally believes that Hernandez is preparing for drug trafficking charges after his ouster.

Castro has yet to comment on his foreign policy. The "Voice of America" reported on the 29th that Castro had publicly stated at the political opinion conference in September that she would "break diplomatic relations" with Taiwan after she was elected and turn to establish diplomatic relations with Chinese mainland. This statement caused "worry" on the US side. A close aide to Castro said recently that she had not yet made a final decision. On November 24, the United States, which had declared that it would not take sides in the Honduran election, suddenly announced that senior State Department officials had visited Honduras and made it clear to the two main candidates in the country's presidential election that "the United States wants Honduras to maintain 'diplomatic relations' with Taiwan." Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said at the time that the relevant moves of the US side blatantly violated the one-China principle, openly pointed fingers at other countries' internal affairs, and grossly interfered in the internal affairs of other countries.

The BBC said on the 29th that Honduras is one of the 15 existing "countries with diplomatic relations" in Taiwan, and the country established diplomatic relations with the government of the Republic of China that had not yet moved to Taiwan in 1941. Since Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, in Latin America, which is known as the "backyard of the United States", there have been three countries in Panama, Dominica and El Salvador that have "broken diplomatic relations" with Taiwan. In the face of a "diplomatic crisis," Taiwan's "foreign minister" Wu Chao-sup said on the 29th that he was quite confident in the "diplomatic relations" between Taiwan and Honduras. Both taiwan and the country have in-depth exchanges, and "there should be no problem in maintaining diplomatic relations." According to the report, Honduras is a large country in Central America, with a population of nearly 10 million. However, due to the new crown epidemic and natural disasters, the country's economy and people's livelihood crises are frequent. In fact, Honduras and other Central and South American countries have begun to seek China's economic support and cooperation because of economic struggles. After the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, these countries criticized the United States and other Western countries for being reluctant to assist poor countries in vaccine supply, and instead considered accepting vaccines aided by China. ”

Spain's "Rational" said on the 28th that the two major powers of China and the United States are watching the presidential change of Honduras, and the United States will try its best to curb China's influence in Latin America. Honduras is one of the few countries in the world to maintain "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan in exchange for money and aid, "but Castro's victory could open the door to China," El País said.