Sao Paulo
The Honduran government last Saturday evening (25) formalized the severing of diplomatic relations with Taiwan, the island which is practically independent but is considered a rebellious province by China.
In a statement, the chancellery showed Xiomara Castro’s government that it is once and for all complying with what Beijing dictates. “Honduras recognizes the existence of a single China,” the text reads. “And Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory; From that date, the government will no longer have any official contact with the island.”
There were days when the movement of the small Central American country was ventilated. Ten days ago, Xiomara announced on Twitter that he intends to establish ties with Beijing and that he has asked his chancellor to start talks with the Asian giant.
Days later, information emerged that the American nation had asked Taiwan for US$2.5 billion (R$13.17 billion) just before announcing that it intended to establish diplomatic ties with Xi Jinping’s country.
Shortly after publicly announcing the end of diplomatic relations, Taiwan recalled its ambassador to Honduras.
As China sees its influence grow in Latin America, the island of Taiwan sees its already small number of official ties shrink. The farewell to Tegucigalpa further deepens the island’s isolation, which is now only recognized by 13 countries.
Taiwan used to be seen as the “real China” by most of the world, but that changed when the United States began recognizing the continental regime in 1979. The action opened up space for Beijing, Chinese representation in multilateral forums such as the UN Security Council.
Beijing has gone to great lengths to inject large sums of money into nations that insist on ties to the island, trying to lure them to switch sides.
At the height of the Covid pandemic, the Chinese almost did the feat with Paraguay, which was considering switching sides in exchange for Chinese immunizers with no vaccines for the disease.
That just didn’t happen because the United States was quick to announce the June 2021 donation of 1 million Pfizer doses to Asunción.
The international community is concerned that China could invade Taiwan to take control of the territory.
Last year President Tsai Ingwen said the province was determined to defend itself against enemies, noting that potential invaders a thinly veiled reference to China would pay a “heavy price” if they launched offensives against the territory would.