Three years after Honduras parted ways with Taiwan and forged diplomatic ties with China in hope of economic gain, shrimp farmers in the Central American country are in revolt.
Their sales to Taiwan fell to a mere US$16 million last year, down from more than US$100 million in 2022, and China did not fill the void as hoped.
“We were deceived,” said Javier Amador, executive director of the National Aquaculture Association of Honduras, as he described the promises of former Honduran president Xiomara Castro of better opportunities with China when she severed ties with Taiwan and opened an embassy in Beijing in 2023.
Photo: AP
Honduran President Nasry Asfura, who was elected with the backing of US President Donald Trump and sworn into office in January, has ordered a review of agreements between Tegucigalpa and Beijing. This has fueled expectations that Honduras would distance itself from China, in line with a Trump administration campaign to reduce Chinese influence and economic clout in Latin America.
Asfura is expected to join other regional leaders for a security summit Trump is hosting at his golf course near Miami today.
“Honduras is probably the most likely country in the world right now to switch diplomatic recognition back to Taiwan,” said Francisco Urdinez, an associate professor at the Political Science Institute of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile. “President Asfura campaigned on it, he met Trump at Mar-a-Lago within days of taking office and his vice president has confirmed the government’s intention.”
However, “it’s not as simple as flipping a switch,” Urdinez said, adding that Honduras has signed more than a dozen agreements with China since 2023.
Taipei and Beijing were diplomatic in responding to questions about a potential shift in allegiance.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office said that Taiwan would continue to advance relations with Honduras “in an open and pragmatic manner, without preconditions, and on the basis of equality and reciprocity.”
Liu Pengyu (劉鵬宇), spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said that Honduras has better prospects for its long-term development since establishing diplomatic ties with China and both countries have “reaped fruitful cooperation outcomes in various fields.”
The Honduras government has not responded to a request for comment.
Latin America’s ties with Taiwan have gained attention because they have become a barometer of the power balance between the world’s two largest economies.
Of the 12 governments that still recognize Taiwan’s statehood, seven are in Latin America: Guatemala, Paraguay and five in the Caribbean.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, during a visit to Guatemala last month, thanked the country for sticking with Taiwan.
“It’s not easy in a world where there is a lot of pressure to change that recognition and to break those ties, but you have always stood firm,” Rubio said, as he promised to work with Guatemala to deepen its economic ties with Taiwan.
US Representative John Moolenaar, chair of the US House of Representatives Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, had a similar message when hosting a delegation from Guatemala in November last year.
“While too many countries bow to the bullying of Beijing, Guatemala stands with the people of Taiwan and prospers through a strong trade relationship,” Moolenaar said. “I support Guatemala’s efforts to oppose Chinese aggression in our hemisphere and look forward to working with Guatemala on areas of common ground.”
US lawmakers have introduced a bill that could provide US$120 million over three years in assistance to Taiwan’s partners.
In 2016 and 2017, Panama, the Dominican Republic and El Salvador all switched their allegiance from Taipei to Beijing. Nicaragua flipped in 2021 and Honduras in 2023.
The loss of the Taiwanese market led to the closure of at least 95 shrimp farms and one processing plant, the loss of more than 25,000 direct and indirect jobs, and the loss of millions of dollars in foreign exchange for the Central American country, Amador said.
“Most of the companies closed in 2024 because many couldn’t ship to other markets and China hasn’t been the answer, because we’re not competitive for them,” he said.
Amador hopes that Asfura restores ties with Taiwan for the benefit of the 330 shrimp farming companies that are still operating.
“The issue of returning to Taiwan is not about recovering what we have already lost, but about whether we are going to start over to reactivate industry, improve productivity and generate foreign currency and employment,” he said.
For Asfura, who campaigned on severing ties with Beijing, there is more to untangle. China has hundreds of millions of dollars of investments in Honduras.
Enrique Millan-Mejia, senior fellow on economic development at the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, said that Honduras could confer “a special status” on Taiwan and withdraw from Beijing’s global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative, which has helped the Chinese government open markets and extend its influence.
Last year, Panama became the first Latin American country to quit the Belt and Road Initiative, prompting an angry response from Beijing, which accused the US of using “pressure and coercion” to undermine the cooperation.
Urdinez said that Asfura might go further and rebuild formal ties with Taiwan.
“Asfura’s calculus is fundamentally about the US, not about Taiwan per se,” Urdinez said. “Taiwan recognition is essentially the price of admission to Trump’s good graces.”
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