On March 26, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks with Honduran Foreign Minister Reina in Beijing and signed the Joint Communiqué between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Honduras on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations. Xinhua News Agency
On March 25, local time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Honduras, a country in northern Central America, issued a statement officially announcing the severance of "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan.
On March 26, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang held talks with Honduran Foreign Minister Reina in Beijing and signed the Joint Communiqué between the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Honduras on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations, formally establishing diplomatic relations between China and Hong Kong.
As early as 2021, when the current president of Honduras, Xiomara Castro, participated in the election campaign, he proposed that he would promote the establishment of diplomatic relations with China after his election. Until March 14 this year, Castro posted on his personal Twitter account that he had instructed the country's foreign minister, Eduardo Reina, to deal with matters related to the formal establishment of diplomatic relations with China.
This year marks Tsai Ing-wen's seventh year as leader of Taiwan. In seven years, a total of nine countries have severed "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan. As far as Honduras has "severed diplomatic relations" with it, only 13 countries remain with Taiwan that maintain so-called "diplomatic relations."
Response
Chinese Foreign Ministry: I believe this will create more opportunities for Honduran economic development and people's well-being
In 2021, Honduras held presidential elections. When the current president and then leftist opposition candidate Hiomara Castro ran for office, he expressed his intention to promote the establishment of diplomatic relations between Honduras and China after his election. The United States quickly visited Hong Kong after its statement and put pressure on the main candidate.
In January 2022, due to the continuous pressure of the United States, Castro chose to continue to maintain "diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authorities after taking office.
After more than a year, on March 14, 2023, local time, Castro posted on his personal Twitter account that he had instructed the country's foreign minister, Eduardo Reina, to handle matters related to the formal establishment of diplomatic relations with China. On the same day, Honduran Foreign Minister Reina told local television: "We must look at the problem very pragmatically and seek the best interests for the Honduran people," Reuters reported.
As soon as this tweet was issued, it aroused widespread attention in the international community.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin responded at the Foreign Ministry's regular press conference held on March 16, saying that China is willing to develop friendly and cooperative relations with all countries in the world, including Honduras, on the basis of the one-China principle, and believes that this will create more opportunities for Honduras' economic development and people's well-being.
11 days after Castro's tweet, on March 25, local time, the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement officially announcing the severance of "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan.
Why did you choose this moment to establish diplomatic relations? Zheng Jian, chair professor of the Institute of Taiwan Studies at Xiamen University and director of the National Taiwan Studies Association, said in an interview with the Global Times that the two countries' choice to issue a communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations before Tsai Ing-wen's planned visit to "friendly" Guatemala and Belize may indicate the tacit understanding between China and Honduras.
On the same day, Taiwan's foreign affairs department posted on Twitter that it "deeply regrets." Tsai Ing-wen later posted a video on her personal Twitter, saying that "I regret that just today we terminated diplomatic relations with Honduras."
Since then, the New York Times has published an analysis article arguing that the number of "countries with diplomatic relations" in Taiwan is already very small, and any severance of diplomatic relations will be a serious setback for it. The article quoted Lu Yezhong, a professor of diplomacy at Taipei's National Chengchi University, as saying that the establishment of diplomatic relations between Honduras and China is "definitely a huge blow" to the Taiwan authorities.
observe
Central American Countries Have Successively "Severed Diplomatic Relations" with Taiwan Honduras seeks economic and trade dividends with China
In May 2016, Tsai Ing-wen was elected leader of Taiwan. In the 2020 election, Tsai Ing-wen was re-elected, and this year marks her seventh year as Taiwan's leader. In the past seven years, a total of nine countries have severed "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan. Until Honduras severed diplomatic relations with it, only 13 countries remained with Taiwan that maintained "diplomatic relations".
The nine countries and the period of "severance" include Sao Tome and Principe (2016), Panama (2017), Dominica (2018), Burkina Faso (2018), El Salvador (2018), Solomon Islands (2019), Kiribati (2019), Nicaragua (2021), and Honduras (2023).
Four of these nine countries are Central American countries. As early as 2017, when Panama "severed diplomatic relations" with Taiwan, foreign media speculated that this move may have a "domino effect", and the next Central American country to "break off diplomatic relations" with Taiwan will be El Salvador, Nicaragua or Honduras.
With El Salvador and Nicaragua "severed diplomatic relations" with Taiwan in 2018 and 2021 respectively, and during the 2021 Honduran presidential election, Castro once said that if elected, it would promote the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Hong Kong, and more and more voices speculated that Honduras would become the next Central American country to "break off diplomatic relations" with Taiwan. Sun Yangming, a senior media person on the island of Taiwan, said that the "severance of diplomatic relations" in Honduras was expected.
After China and Hong Kong issued a joint announcement and announced the establishment of diplomatic relations, Hu Yukun, a member of the China Translators Association and a columnist in international politics, wrote an article analyzing that as one of the poorest countries in Central America, Honduras's rigid demand for economic development has not decreased. The economic and trade dividends and prospects brought by the establishment of diplomatic relations with China are one of the reasons why Castro firmly turned to China.
Hu Yukun further pointed out that in this context, as the Taiwan authorities rejected the Hong government's request to double the amount of aid from $50 million a year, and considered "adjusting" the country's $600 million debt to Taiwan, it was "expected" that Honduras chose to "sever diplomatic relations" with Taiwan.
According to global network reports, the United States has an extremely important air base in Honduras. Zhang Guangqiu, associate professor of Taiwan's University of Science and Technology, believes that this is probably the most important strategic deployment of the United States in Central America at present, and it is also the thing that the United States is most worried about in the face of Honduras' "severance of diplomatic relations" with Taiwan.
Know more D
Honduras is the largest coffee exporter in Central America
In 2021, trade with China reached US$1.62 billion
Honduras is located in northern Central America, bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, the Gulf of Fonseca in the Pacific Ocean to the south, Nicaragua and El Salvador to the east and south, and Guatemala to the west. More than three-quarters of the territory is mountainous and highland, making it the most mountainous country in Central America. In addition, Honduras has a diverse natural environment and rich biodiversity, and has the reputation of "Fairy Forest".
Coffee, cigars, bananas, cotton, etc. are all specialties of Honduras. As of January 2022, Honduras is currently the third largest coffee exporter in Latin America and the largest in Central America, according to China's Ministry of Commerce. According to the media, Honduras' 2021-2022 harvest exported more than 6 million bags of coffee, accounting for about 38% of the total value of domestic agricultural production. There are 280,000 hectares of coffee plantations in Honduras, dominated by small coffee merchants, accounting for 60% of the country's production. More than one-tenth of the country's total population is engaged in coffee cultivation.
According to China Customs statistics, in 2021, the trade volume between China and Hong Kong reached US$1.62 billion, a year-on-year increase of 67.1%. According to the Statistical Bulletin of China's Outward Direct Investment, by the end of 2020, the stock of Chinese direct investment in Honduras was US$4.69 million. By the end of 2021, Honduras had invested US$29.69 million in China.
Honduras is also one of the birthplaces of the Mayan civilization. In the western province of Copan, near the Guatemalan border, archaeologists have excavated the "Sites of Copan". It was one of the most important city-states of the classical period of the Maya civilization. It was the southernmost city-state of the Maya city-state at that time. In 1980, the site of Copan was recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Written by: Nandu reporter Zhao Linxuan