The President of Honduras announced on Tuesday March 14 her intention to establish formal diplomatic relations with Beijing, logically implying the severance of relations with Taipei. In Taiwan, many relativize the scope of the announcement.
The news made headlines in Taiwanese media. On Tuesday March 14, Xiomara Castro de Zelaya, president of Honduras elected in January 2022, announced in a tweet her wish to establish diplomatic relations with China. ” VS’is a sign of my determination to pursue the plans of the government “, justified in her message the leader, who had already announced her intentions during the presidential campaign of 2021.
If implemented, such a move would effectively mean the severing of official Honduran relations with the Taiwanese government. China indeed refuses that a country maintains joint diplomatic relations with Beijing and Taipei. ” We call on Honduras not to fall into the trap set by China “, lambasted the Taiwanese government.
The announcement is the latest act in a diplomatic standoff between Taiwan and China, which seeks to diplomatically isolate the 24-year-old democratic archipelago. million inhabitants it claims. Since the election of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-Wen in 2016, firmly opposed to Chinese annexation, Taipei has lost eight of its official allies, and can only count today on 14 diplomatic alliances.
Portfolio diplomacy
In this context, portfolio diplomacy is Beijing’s greatest asset. On Wednesday, March 15, in a television interview, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Honduras confirmed that the decision was linked to Taiwan’s refusal to ” double their financial aid in Honduras. Opposite, China has already financed two dam projects in Honduras, the Patuca II, inaugurated in 2021, and the Patuca III, in the pipeline.
The timing of the announcement nevertheless surprised the Taiwanese press. More than a year after the inauguration of the Honduran president, the announcement comes a few months before the Taiwanese presidential election next January. Hearing before parliament on Wednesday, a Taiwanese intelligence official said, do not exclude » the possibility of increased pressure from China on Honduras in retaliation for the upcoming visit of the Taiwanese president to the United States, seen with a very dim view by Beijing.
” I think Honduras is trying to put pressure on Taiwan to ask for more moneyanalyzes for his part Kung Kwo-wei, director of the institute of study on Latin America of the uTaipei Tamkang University. If the Honduran president had wanted to quickly establish relations with Beijing, the discussions would have taken place in private, and not with an announcement on Twitter. »
An announcement to qualify on the Taiwanese side
Apart from the Kuomintang, the main opposition party in favor of a rapprochement with Beijing, many in Taiwan qualify the scope of the Honduran announcement. In fact, it is not Taiwan strictly speaking that would again lose a diplomatic ally, but the Republic of China. The regime defeated in China in 1949 by Mao’s army is today the ” shell Constitution of Taiwan.
” From the point of view of the former one-party Kuomintang, we are still supposed to represent the whole of China, which is absurd.says Professor Chen Fang-Yu, a professor at Soochow University and a democratic activist. We have to get out of this myth of competition with communist China on the number of diplomatic relations, because we don’t have the financial means to keep up. And we should explain that a severance of diplomatic relations should not lead to the abandonment of informal relations with Taiwan. »
Taiwan’s last diplomatic allies remain valuable for the archipelago. For example, they allow it to make its voice heard within international institutions, where Taipei has no seat due to pressure from Beijing. For the time being, the thirteen other diplomatic allies of Taiwan will be able to continue to fulfill this role without difficulty.
Diplomatic relations between Taiwan and the United States
“ In the case of Honduras, the influence of the United States was crucial in maintaining the relationship with Taipei, but American influence is eroding in Central Americacontinues Professor Kung Kwo-wei. To keep our remaining allies, like Haiti, the Taiwanese government can only count on the quality of the relationship. »
But Taiwan knows that the battle for its right to exist is played out above all on other fronts. The United States, where Taiwanese President Tsai Ing Wen is due to visit next month, continues to reaffirm its commitment “ solid as a rock towards Taiwan. According Reuters, the UK last year approved historic transfers of military technology to Taiwan. And in Eastern Europe, the marks of support for Formosa are multiplying.
” In recent years, Taiwanese foreign policy has shifted from focusing less on diplomatic allies to partnerships with countries that share common values.notes in a forum the Taiwanese journalist Xu Wei-Ting, correspondent for the Taiwanese news agency in Washington. In this context, the Honduran decision will only have limited effects on Taiwan. »
►Read also :Taiwan in Chinese sights