Link to article: https://www.reuters.com/world/new-honduras-leader-says-she-hopes-maintain-taiwan-ties-2022-01-27/
After meeting with Taiwan’s vice president, the Honduran President-elect, Xiomara Castro, said that she hopes to maintain their relationship and that the country is grateful for their support. Taiwan was worried about losing Honduras as an ally due to Castro mentioning the notion of switching from diplomacy with Taipei to Beijing during her campaign, especially considering that Honduras is one of only fourteen countries in the world who have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. China is still working to reduce Taiwan’s international capacity since they continue to lay claim to the island and attempt to dictate that Taiwan cannot conduct diplomatic relations with other states. Relations between Taiwan and Honduras appear to be cordial at the moment, with Taiwanese Vice President William Lai meeting with Castro recently and strengthening democratic ties. Prior to the Honduran election, a visiting US delegation communicated that they want Honduras to maintain relations with Taiwan, due to concerns over growing Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere. For example, last month, China re-established diplomatic relations with Nicaragua and openly stated that they plan to bring Taiwan’s number of diplomatic allies to zero.
This situation holds significance since it displays that China does not have a firm grasp on Taiwan and that their efforts to silence them can be undermined. This is almost reminiscent of the bipolar system of the Cold War, since the United States made successful efforts to stop China from diplomatizing with yet another Central American state. Given that Castro was likely planning on working with China originally, due to their superior economic capabilities compared to Taiwan, it will be intriguing to see whether this relationship with Taiwan lasts. On the one hand, going against the wishes of the United States would not be in the best interests of Honduras given their location and the economic power of the United States to impose sanctions and the like. On the other hand, China is also a powerful trade partner that holds much motivation to influence countries away from Taiwan, which could bring large incentives to Honduras in the process.
In connection to class, it was interesting to note that Lai and Castro worked on strengthening friendship between the two democratic states. This is reflective of Liberal Internationalism, since this peaceful relationship is occurring between two democracies in the face of the Communist government of China. This holds the power to reduce conflict, as the theory states, since Taiwan having multiple allies with decent bonds is imperative to their security considering China would find it far easier to take them over if no state was liable to speak against it. The international system also influences the situation here, considering that the unipolar superpower of the United States was able to shy Castro away from working with China without much effort, whereas in the bipolar system of the Cold War, it often took much more influence and work to keep states from siding with the USSR.