Taipei. Honduran President Xiomara Castro arrived in Shanghai on Friday for her first visit since her country cut ties with China and severed ties with its former diplomatic ally Taiwan. China’s official Xinhua news agency said Castro would be on a visit to China until June 14 during which he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and discuss a “joint plan” for the development of ties between the two countries.
Honduras established formal ties with China in March and joined a string of recent breakaways with former diplomatic ally Taiwan. China considers self-governing Taiwan as its separate province, which it can forcefully make part of the country if needed. China prevents its diplomatic allies from building formal ties with Taipei.
After independence-leaning Tsai Ing-wen became president of Taiwan in 2016, China stepped up its campaign against maintaining diplomatic relations with her. As part of this campaign, it wooed with billions of dollars in investment and nine former Taiwan allies broke ties with Taipei. A total of 13 countries now have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, including Belize, Paraguay and Guatemala in Latin America, Eswatini in Southern Africa, some Caribbean and South Pacific countries, and the Vatican City.
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