China hopes Taiwan’s allies in Latin America “will pick up on the trend”

China today expressed its hope that Taiwan’s allies in Latin America and the Caribbean “notice the general trend”, in response to the trip of the island president, Tsai Ing-wen, makes these days for Central America.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning stated that Beijing “hopes that certain countries will manage Taiwan-related affairs prudently and join the great family of friendly cooperation between China and Latin America as soon as possible.”

He noted that “182 countries in the world have already established diplomatic relations with China” and “engaging in separatist activities for Taiwan independence goes against the historical trend and is doomed to a dead end”.

Tsai Ing-wen is on an official visit to the Central American countries of Guatemala and Belize, two of the 13 nations with which Taipei maintains official diplomatic relations, a number that dropped recently after Honduras severed ties with Taiwan to establish ties with Beijing.

The Taiwanese president affirmed hours before the break between Taipei and Tegucigalpa that her country would not get involved “in a senseless competition of dollar diplomacy with China”.

Shortly before, the Taiwanese Foreign Minister, Joseph Wu, revealed that the Honduran government asked the Taiwan government on March 13 for US$2 billion to restructure its foreign debt, US$350 million for a dam and another 90 million to build a hospital.

In response to Taipei, the Chinese Foreign Ministry assured that “there were no conditions” for the establishment of official relations with Honduras.

The break between Taiwan and Honduras made the Central American nation the ninth country – and the fifth Latin American country – that since 2016 has cut with the island to establish ties with China.

China claims sovereignty over Taiwan, which it views as a rogue province since Kuomintang nationalists withdrew there in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communists.

Source: EFE