Belize assures Taiwan of its support as doubts grow about Honduras

Name: Solomon Islands riot sets Chinatown ablaze in capital Honiara as protests turn violent
Uploaded: 2021-12-01T06:34:41.000Z
Duration: 1 min 57 s
Description: Solomon Islands riot sets Chinatown ablaze in capital Honiara as protests turn violent

Speaker of Belize’s legislature says it ‘knows the challenges in defending sovereignty and the right to independence as we too have fought a large neighbour’

Xiomara Castro, president-elect in fellow Central American country Honduras, has floated the idea of switching diplomatic ties from Taipei to Beijing

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Belize is one of 15 countries maintaining diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Photo: Shutterstock Images

Reuters

Published: 2:34pm, 1 Dec 2021

A senior politician from Belize on Wednesday pledged “steadfast” support for Taiwan during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen, amid doubts over whether fellow Central American nation Honduras will maintain ties with the island following a presidential election.

Belize and Honduras are two of just 15 countries with formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, and Beijing has been gradually whittling away that number.

Honduras’ conservative ruling party candidate late on Tuesday conceded defeat in the presidential election, paving the way for his leftist rival Xiomara Castro to assume office. Castro has floated the idea of switching ties to China.

Meeting Tsai at her office in Taipei, Belize’s House of Representatives speaker Valerie Woods said her country and Taiwan shared the same values of freedom, peace, human rights, rule of law and democracy.

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Solomon Islands riot sets Chinatown ablaze in capital Honiara as protests turn violent

“We also know the challenges that come with defending sovereignty and the right to independence as we too have fought a large neighbour,” Woods said, probably in reference to Guatemala’s territorial claims on Belize.