Honduras inaugurates embassy in China after cutting ties with Taiwan

Honduras officially inaugurated its new embassy in China on Sunday morning, months after the Central American country cut ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing.

The embassy was opened by the Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and his Honduran counterpart Enrique Reina, according to the Chinese state media CCTV. 

"Relations between Honduras and China will open new opportunities and competencies to strengthen cooperation between the two countries," Minister Reina told Chinese state media after the inauguration ceremony, describing the moment as "historic." 

During the event, Qin said that the rapid development of relations between the two countries has shown that Honduras' decision is the right one and "is in line with the interests of both countries." China inaugurated its embassy in the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa, last week.

At the same time, Honduran President Xiomara Castro is in China for her first official visit to the Asian Giant since establishing diplomatic ties. During her visit to Shanghai, Castro formally requested that Honduras be allowed to join the BRICS-led New Development Bank (NBD), a bank that was collectively set up in 2015 by RBrazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. 

The Honduran president also visited Huawei’s research center before arriving in Beijing on Saturday, according to the Chinese newspaper Global Times. 

In March, Honduras announced it was breaking diplomatic ties with Taiwan and establishing a relationship with China. Beijing does not allow a country it has diplomatic ties with to maintain a relationship with Taipei, claiming that self-ruled Taiwan is part of its territory. 

Honduras is the latest Latin American country to switch its recognition to China, following the footsteps of El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama.

Taiwan currently has only 13 official diplomatic partners left, half of which are small countries in Latin America and the Caribbean: Guatemala, Belize, Haiti, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, and the Grenadines.