China says diplomatic deal with Honduras a 'political decision' without conditions
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's establishment of diplomatic relations with Honduras was a political decision without conditions attached, China's foreign ministry said on Monday.
Honduras announced at the weekend it had opened formal ties with Beijing and ended its decades-long relationship with Taiwan.
"Diplomatic ties are not something for trade," China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told a regular news briefing, in response to a question on whether China would give Honduras almost $2.5 billion the Central American country had earlier sought from Taiwan.
Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina wrote to Taiwan this month asking for almost $2.5 billion in aid, including a loan of $2 billion to help write off debt as well as funds for the construction of a hospital and a dam, according to copy of the letter seen by Reuters.
Taiwan said in the days leading to China and Honduras announcing diplomatic ties that Chinese involvement was obvious, and that Taiwan would not engage in "meaningless" dollar diplomacy with China.
Taiwan now has formal diplomatic relations with just 13 countries, mostly poor and developing nations in Central America, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Taipei and Beijing accuse each other of using "dollar diplomacy" in their competition for allies.
"I want to stress that, Taiwan authorities are used to dollar diplomacy," Mao said. "We want to tell Taiwan authorities that Taiwan independence is a dead end, dollar diplomacy has no way through, any plots that go against the tide of history are doomed to end in failure."
China and Honduras signed the deal on diplomatic recognition in Beijing over the weekend, ending relations with Taiwan dating back to the 1940s.
China claims democratically ruled Taiwan as its own territory with no right to state-to-state ties, a position Taipei strongly rejects.
(Reporting by Laurie Chen, Writing by Liz Lee and Ella Cao; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Alex Richardson)
