TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras: A battle in the intense diplomatic war between China and Taiwan is being fought in Latin America, where Honduras has become the latest country to ditch Taipei and align itself with Beijing.
Paraguay will be the next front as it holds a presidential election in April, with opposition candidate Efrain Alegre having vowed to reevaluate relations with Taipei if he wins.
After Honduras’ severing of ties with Taiwan last Sunday, only Paraguay and 12 other countries now maintain diplomatic relations with the self-ruled democratic island: Guatemala, Belize, Haiti, the Holy See, Eswatini and seven small Caribbean and Pacific island nations.
Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, is set to visit Guatemala and Belize this week seeking to boost ties after Honduras and others recently shifted their allegiance to China: Nicaragua in 2021, El Salvador in 2018, Panama in 2017 and Costa Rica in 2007.
She will also have stopovers in New York and Los Angeles.
“We are facing a geopolitical recomposition of the world,” Honduras analyst Zoyla Madrid, recently retired from the National University, told AFP – with China one of the “imperial poles” vying for Latin American support.
In that race, the decision by Honduras was a blow to Washington, said Madrid.
“The United States has always counted on Honduras geopolitically and militarily, in fact Honduras has seven US military bases,” she said.
The United States has no diplomatic ties with Taiwan, but “a robust unofficial relationship”, according to the State Department.
It is Taiwan’s most significant ally and largest weapons supplier, despite having switched recognition to Beijing in 1979.