Honduras

Subject : International Relations

Section: Places in news

Concept :

China and Honduras signed a landmark communique to formally establish diplomatic relations, with the Central American nation becoming the latest country to switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
The agreement now leaves a dwindling number of diplomatic partners for Taiwan, with Honduras joining Nicaragua, Panama and Costa Rica in recently recognising Beijing and ending ties with Taipei.
The only remaining among the 193 member countries of the UN that maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan, along with the Holy See (Vatican), are the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Tuvalu, and Palau in the Pacific; Eswatini in Africa; and Belize, Guatemala, Haiti, Paraguay, St. Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Saint Kitts and Nevis, in Latin America and the Caribbean.

One China policy

One China policy is the diplomatic acknowledgement of China’s position that there is only one Chinese government and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory.
Any country that wants diplomatic relations with mainland China must break official ties with Taiwan.
Taiwan is not recognised as an independent country by much of the world not even the United Nations.
It undergoes extraordinary naming contortions just to participate in events and institutions like the Olympic Games and the World Trade Organization.
India has followed a “One China policy” since its recognition of China (also known as the People’s Republic of China) in 1949, and only maintains trade and cultural relations with Taiwan.
Though U.S. agrees with a one-China policy, it said, it will intervene militarily if China will try to annex Taiwan by force.
Under the policy, the US recognises and has formal ties with China rather than the island of Taiwan, which China sees as a breakaway province to be reunified with the mainland one day including with the use of force.

How did it come about?

The policy can be traced back to 1949 and the end of the Chinese civil war. The defeated Nationalists, also known as the Kuomintang, retreated to Taiwan and made it their seat of government while the victorious Communists began ruling the mainland as the People’s Republic of China.
Both sides said they represented all of China. Since then, China’s ruling Communist Party has threatened to use force if Taiwan ever formally declares independence, but it has also pursued a softer diplomatic track with the island in recent years.

Taiwan Strait

Taiwan Strait, also called Formosa Strait, is the arm of the Pacific Ocean, lying between the coast of China’s Fukien province and the island of Taiwan (Formosa).
The strait extends from southwest to northeast between the South and East China seas.
It contains the Pescadores Islands (which are controlled by the government of Taiwan).

About Honduras

The Republic of Honduras is a country of Central America situated between Guatemala and El Salvador to the west and Nicaragua to the south and east.
The Caribbean Sea washes its northern coast, the Pacific Ocean its narrow coast to the south.
It was home to several important Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya, before the Spanish Colonization in the sixteenth century.
More than three-fourths of the land area of Honduras is mountainous, lowlands being found only along the coasts and in the several river valleys that penetrate toward the interior.
A large undeveloped lowland jungle, La Mosquitia lies in the northeast, and the heavily populated lowland Sula valley in the northwest.
In La Mosquitia lies the UNESCO world-heritage site Río Plátano Biosphere Reserve, with the Coco River which divides Honduras from Nicaragua.
It is known for its rich natural resources, including minerals, coffee, tropical fruit, and sugar cane, as well as for its growing textiles industry, which serves the international market.

Northern Triangle

The countries of El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are known as Northern Triangle.
These countries share a border tripoint at Trifinio biosphere reserve, and also aspects of classical cultures, history, society, and politics.