HONDURAS ESTABLISHES TIES WITH CHINA

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Context: China and Honduras signed a landmark communique to formally establish diplomatic relations, with the Central American nation becoming the latest country to switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

Details: 

• The agreement now leaves a dwindling number of diplomatic partners for Taiwan, with Honduras joining Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica in recently recognising Beijing and ending ties with Taipei.

Highlights of the agreement:

• The two Governments have decided to recognise each other and establish diplomatic relations at the ambassadorial level.
• There is but one China in the world and the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal Government representing the whole of China. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory.

• The only remaining among the 193 member countries of the UN that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, along with the Holy See (Vatican), are the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, and Palau in the Pacific; Eswatini in Africa; and Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Paraguay, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Reason for breakdown:

• Taipei hit out at the move.
• Officials in Taipei said financial reasons were behind the switch, and Honduras had asked Taiwan for financial assistance as a condition to continue relations.