TEGUCIGALPA, March 27 (Portal) – Taiwan must vacate its embassy in Honduras within 30 days, a senior Honduran official said Monday after President Xiomara Castro severed ties with Taiwan in favor of China in a bid to attract more investment and jobs from the Asian giant.
Deputy Secretary of State Antonio Garcia issued the order on local television Monday, after the government announced over the weekend that it had established formal diplomatic ties with Beijing while ending its decades-long ties with Taiwan.
Castro’s main conservative opposition later announced that it would reverse opening up to China if it regained power.
China has long argued that democratically-ruled Taiwan is part of its own territory with no right to interstate relations, a position Taipei staunchly rejects. Communist-ruled China is demanding that countries with which it has ties adopt its position.
For years, Taipei’s embassy in the leafy Palmira district of Tegucigalpa was one of the most prominent outposts of the Central American capital and the second largest embassy in the country after the US embassy.
In his remarks, Garcia said 30 days is “more than enough time to pack up and go,” adding that officers are aiming for an “orderly, friendly” exit.
The deputy minister also stressed the need for a diplomatic mission in the world’s second largest economy.
“We need to go there to explore the big projects that China can give us,” he said, suggesting China could invest about $10 billion in Honduras to help local workers.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also announced that Honduran students on scholarships in Taiwan could transfer their studies to China.
Late on Saturday, the Honduran Ministry of Foreign Affairs recognized the People’s Republic of China, China’s official name, as the only legitimate government representing all of China and that Taiwan is an “inseparable part of Chinese territory.”
The move leaves Taiwan with only 13 formal allies, mostly poor and developing countries in Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
In its own statement later Monday, the conservative National Party pledged to resume ties with Taiwan if it can resume the Honduran presidency in 2026.
“We will do the impossible to restore ties with our brothers and sisters in the Republic of Taiwan,” it said, promising to enshrine allegiance to Taiwan in the country’s constitution.
Reporting by Gustavo Palencia; Additional reporting by Sarah Morland; Edited by Stephen Eisenhammer, Josie Kao and Sandra Maler
Our standards: The Thomson Portal Trust Principles.