Honduras recently cut ties with Taiwan and established diplomatic ties with China.
Honduras’ Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina made it clear that the decision was about “pragmatism, not ideology” and that it was motivated by the country’s debt, which totals $20 billion, as well as the need to deal with the country’s energy and other needs. Honduras’ decision came just weeks after the Honduran government announced that it was negotiating with China to build a hydroelectric dam called Patuca II. China has already invested $298 million in a first dam in eastern Honduras inaugurated in January 2021.
Honduras “had to take that decision,” Reina said. “The idea is to look for mechanisms for greater investment [and] commerce.”
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The Honduran decision further reveals the status and influence that Chinese Communist Party now has in Latin America; it has become the go-to power for Latin American countries in need of investments in construction and development, and the servicing of their debts. That they turn to China, and not to the neighboring United States, is also extremely telling of just how diminished US power and influence on the Latin American continent has become.
Read more: Gatestone Institute
