Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen recently announced that she would visit two Central American countries and go to two neighboring countries of Honduras, only to "snub" Honduras. Unexpectedly, before Tsai Ing-wen set off, the foreign minister of Honduras took the lead and brought a delegation to the mainland to talk about the establishment of diplomatic relations.
(Honduran Foreign Minister Reina)
The Honduran Foreign Minister led a delegation to the mainland to talk about the establishment of diplomatic relations
A few days ago, a delegation composed of Honduran Foreign Minister Reina, the President of the National Assembly, and members of parliament has left from the Honduran airport for the mainland. The purpose of this trip is simple, that is, to implement the establishment of diplomatic relations previously announced by the President of Honduras.
Taiwan media believe that Foreign Minister Hong's choice of the time to visit China may be to officially announce the establishment of diplomatic relations with China during Tsai Ing-wen's visit to the United States. Tsai Ing-wen wants to sneak into the United States but cannot be upright, so she has to use her visit to Central America as a pretext to "transit" twice before she can land in the United States. Tsai Ing-wen is beautiful, Honduras sent people to China, one left and one right, and the worst loss in this chess game is probably Tsai Ing-wen.
When they learned that Honduras was going to "sever diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authorities, the Taiwan authorities immediately sent someone to meet with representatives of Honduras, and as a result, the talks lasted only half an hour, and the representatives of Taiwan's foreign affairs departments walked out of the venue with solemn faces and went to the side door to prevent them from being photographed by the media, indicating that the talks had collapsed. On March 23, just as Foreign Minister Hong flew to the mainland, the Taiwan authorities angrily recalled the so-called "ambassador to Honduras" to express their dissatisfaction, but in the end, it was in vain.
Not only Tsai Ing-wen has a headache, but the United States is also secretly anxious. US President Joe Biden also sent his top envoy to Honduras in an attempt to smear China and make Honduras "change its mind." Needless to say, the result is naturally a trip for nothing.
(President of Honduras Castro)
The Taiwan authorities said that Honduras was "extorting money" and demanded 2.5 billion yuan in aid
Seeing that Honduras had made up its mind, the Taiwan authorities revealed another news, saying that Honduras wanted to ask the Taiwan authorities for sky-high aid of $2.5 billion, but the Taiwan authorities refused to give it, so Honduras chose to abandon Taiwan and leave. Reuters reported that the day before Honduras announced the establishment of diplomatic relations with China, Honduras had just asked Taiwan to pay the $2.5 billion money.
Honduran Foreign Minister Reina said that the news was false because the Honduran side had sent a note to the Taiwan authorities a week before the announcement.
However, Reina did write a letter to Taiwan's foreign affairs department on March 13, asking the Taiwan authorities to provide funds, but the Taiwan authorities did not respond for a long time. Reina also acknowledged that Honduras' demand that Taiwan increase its annual aid from $50 million to $100 million has not been answered.
Under the renderings of the Taiwan authorities, Honduran Foreign Minister Reina came forward to clarify, saying that the $2.5 billion was not aid, but a "refinancing mechanism" negotiated by the two sides. In short, both sides are on their own terms.
(Taiwan authorities)
The mainland can give Honduras more, but be wary of repeating its old tricks
The mainland can indeed help Honduras more, and the mainland is much stronger than the Taiwan authorities in terms of infrastructure capacity, economy, market size, and international status. The mainland will sincerely help its friends, but it will not give unconditional assistance to anyone.
Regardless of whether the incident exposed by the Taiwan media is a deliberate smear by the Taiwan authorities to smear Honduras, the mainland will remain vigilant to prevent similar things from happening again.
Chinese mainland is willing to help Honduras build dams, and in the future, Honduras will need China's help for various infrastructure construction such as railways and ports. In addition, once diplomatic relations with Chinese mainland are established, the vast market of the mainland will be opened to Honduras, which will greatly boost the economy of Honduras. China is well-intentioned to help Honduras, but Honduras must not force China to help.
(China helped Honduras build the Patuka Dam)
However, judging from the matter of "severing diplomatic relations" between Honduras and the Taiwan authorities, it is certainly a good thing. The Taiwan authorities' successive losses of so-called "countries with diplomatic relations" show that more and more countries can clearly see the fact of one China, and the Taiwan authorities will continue to lose "countries with diplomatic relations" in the future, and the two sides of the strait will eventually be reunified.
(Text: RH Review: Gullum)