Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Wednesday asked Honduran authorities not to “make the wrong decision” to establish diplomatic relations with China, which would lead to a de facto severance of relations with Taipei, AFP reported.

“We ask Honduras to think carefully and not fall into China’s trap by making a wrong decision to harm the long-standing friendship between Taiwan and Honduras,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei said in a statement.

Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Tuesday that he had asked the foreign minister to initiate the opening of official relations with China.

Analyst Raul Pineda noted that President Castro’s post on Twitter “does not clarify what kind of relationship” Honduras wants to have with Beijing. “If it is diplomatic relations, it will lead to a break with Taiwan and a distancing from the United States.” he added.

“Currently, Sino-American relations are very tense, and from this point of view it would be a very sad decision,” the Honduran analyst assessed.

On January 1, Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Reyna met with Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Xie Feng on the sidelines of the inauguration ceremony of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. On February 2, Reina announced talks with China on the construction of a hydroelectric dam, denying that Tegucigalpa wanted diplomatic recognition from Beijing.

Beijing has already financed another $300 million dam in Honduras, which was inaugurated in 2021 by then-President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Latin America has been a major diplomatic battleground between Beijing and Taipei since 1949, when the Communists seized power in mainland China and the Nationalist government took refuge on the island of Taiwan.

Adhering to Washington’s policy, the countries of Central America remained tied to Taiwan for decades. But today only Honduras, Guatemala and Belize maintain ties with the island. Costa Rica (in 2007), Panama (2017), El Salvador (2018) and Nicaragua (2021) recognized Beijing.

Only 14 countries in the world recognize Taiwan, including Paraguay, Haiti, the Vatican and several small island states in the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans.