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TEGUCIGALPA/TAIPEI (Reuters) – Honduran President Ciomara Castro said on Thursday he had asked the country’s foreign minister to initiate official ties with China, prompting President Tsai Ing-wen’s discreet visit to the United States and central China. prior to putting pressure on Taiwan. America.
China does not allow countries with which it has diplomatic ties to maintain official ties with Taiwan, claiming Taiwan as its own territory without the right to enter into interstate relations. , Taiwan strongly disagrees with this position.
Castro, who had expressed the idea of starting ties with China and severing ties with Taiwan during the campaign, said he hoped to maintain ties with Taiwan in January 2022. .
If the Central American country ends ties with Taiwan, Taiwan will leave the island leaving only 13 diplomatic allies.
Honduras opposition lawmaker Tomás Zambrano told local television the decision was likely to affect relations with the country’s largest trading partner, the United States, and many families were migrating from the north. He pointed out that it depends on remittances.
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Although the United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, it is the most important international donor, arms supplier and a constant source of friction in Sino-US relations.
“We must look very realistically and pursue the best interests of the Honduran people,” Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina said on local television on Tuesday.
Castro’s statement on Twitter came ahead of Tsai’s planned trip to Central America next month to visit Guatemala and Belize.・There is a high chance that he will meet McCarthy and anger China.
Responding to a lawmaker’s question in parliament on Wednesday, Chen Ching-kun, deputy director of Taiwan’s National Security Administration, said he “absolutely ruled out” the possibility of China exerting pressure ahead of Ms Tsai’s visit. I didn’t,” he said.
Taiwan accuses China of luring allies with large loan promises, an accusation Beijing denies.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it had expressed serious concern to the Honduran government and urged it to consider the decision carefully “to avoid falling into China’s trap”.
A source familiar with the situation in Taiwan said the island would have to do “everything” to maintain diplomatic ties with Honduras.
China’s foreign ministry, meanwhile, said it welcomed the Honduran president’s statement.
“China is ready to establish diplomatic relations with other countries in line with the one-China principle,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular press briefing on Wednesday.
“Congratulations Honduras”
Chinese Ambassador to Mexico Zhang Jun previously tweeted that the one China principle, which makes China and Taiwan part of one country, is the consensus of the international community.
“I congratulate Honduras on making the right decision to embrace its principles, and I hope it will come true,” Zhang said.
In December 2021, Nicaragua cut long-standing ties with Taiwan, switched allegiance to China, and declared that “Taiwan is an integral part of Chinese territory.”
The U.S. State Department was encouraging countries to maintain ties with Taiwan at the time, and said Nicaragua’s decisions did not reflect the will of the people because Nicaragua’s government was not freely elected.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Honduras.
Taiwan could lose its Latin American ally Paraguay if the opposition wins the presidential election in late April.
Paraguay will cut ties with Taiwan and open ties with China, said opposition presidential candidate Efrain Alegre, hoping to boost vital soybean and beef exports.
Reporting by Gustavo Palencia of Tegucigalpa, Ben Blanchard, Yimou Li and Sarah Wu of Taipei and Valentine Hiller of Mexico City. Additional reporting by Liz Li of Beijing.Edited by Himani Sarkar
Our Standards: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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