Henoch Gabriel Mandelbaum

The newly elected Honduran President, Xiomara Castro, from the left-wing party Liberty and Refoundation (Libre), suggested during campaigning in December 2021 that Tegucigalpa would switch recognition from Taiwan to China. However, on the last day of January 2022, Honduran Foreign Minister Eduardo Enrique Reina announced that Castro’s administration considered the benefits Honduras had obtained from a steady relationship with Taiwan, and determined that there was no need to explore alternatives for the time being. Nevertheless, China’s increasing footprint in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) can still have an impact on Tegucigalpa-Taipei ties and the United States’ policy for the region.