Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said that it had expressed serious concern to the Honduran government and urged it to consider its decision carefully and not “fall into China’s trap”.
A source familiar with the situation in Taiwan said that the island needed to exhaust “every possible means” to maintain diplomatic ties with Honduras.
China’s Foreign Ministry has yet to comment, but the Chinese ambassador in Mexico, Zhang Run, tweeted that the “One China” principle, which holds that China and Taiwan are part of one country, is the consensus of the international community.
“Congratulations Honduras on this correct decision to embrace that principle! Hopefully it will be fulfilled,” Zhang said.
The announcement comes ahead of Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s planned trip to Central America next month, where she is expected to visit Guatemala and Belize.
In December 2021, Nicaragua broke its long-standing ties with Taiwan, switching allegiance to China and declaring that “Taiwan is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory”.
The US State Department had at the time encouraged countries to maintain their ties with Taiwan and said that Nicaragua’s decision did not reflect the will of the people as its government was not freely elected.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Honduras.
Taiwan could lose another Latin American ally, Paraguay, if the opposition wins the presidential election in late April.
Paraguay would cut ties with Taiwan and open relations with China, the opposition’s presidential candidate Efrain Alegre has said, hoping to boost economically important soy and beef exports.