Taiwan on Friday accused China of seeking to use the Honduran election to “create controversy” and undermine Taiwan’s long-standing ties with the country, saying it would strive to win support for Honduras’ relations with Taipei.
Honduras’ main left-wing opposition party, the Liberty and Refoundation Party (LIBRE), led by ousted former Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, has said that if it wins November’s presidential election it would seek to “readjust” the country’s debt and establish diplomatic relations with China.
Honduras is one of 15 UN member countries that maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which has already warned Honduras not to be drawn in by China’s “flashy and false” promises, said that China has never stopped trying to undermine Taiwan’s relations with its diplomatic allies.
“Recently, it has even used the democratic election in our ally to create controversial topics and the false image of unstable diplomatic relations between our country and Honduras,” the ministry said, without giving details.
In the face of China’s “brutal suppression” of Taiwan’s diplomatic work, the government would “take concrete actions to demonstrate our country’s assistance to the development of Honduras’ economic and social affairs, and strive for the support of Honduras’ ruling and opposition parties for Taiwan,” it said.
Honduras has had relations for eight decades with the Republic of China, Taiwan’s formal name. That predates the Chinese Nationalist Party’s evacuation to Taiwan after loosing the Chinese Civil War in 1949 to the Chinese communists, who set up the People’s Republic of China in Beijing.
China’s efforts to win over Taiwan’s remaining allies have alarmed Washington, which is especially concerned about Beijing’s growing influence.
In September 2019, the Solomon Islands and Kiribati were the last countries to cut ties with Taipei.
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