National flags of China, Honduras Photo: CFP

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Thursday that China welcomes Honduras President Xiomara Castro to visit China at an early date, and stands ready to step up high-level exchanges and advance exchanges and cooperation in various fields, a few days after the two countries established diplomatic relations.

Mao responded to a tweet by the Honduran Foreign Ministry, which said on Wednesday that Castro would travel to China soon, without providing a date for the trip.

Mao told a press briefing on Thursday that China welcomes Castro to visit at an early date to develop a blueprint for the future of bilateral relations with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

 

China stands ready to step up high-level exchanges with the Honduran side, enhance political mutual trust and mutual understanding, and advance exchanges and cooperation in various fields in the spirit of equality and win-win cooperation, Mao stated.

Rasel Tomé, vice president of the National Congress of Honduras, told the Global Times in an exclusive interview that Castro's upcoming visit to China will be accompanied by an official delegation, both from the executive branch and from the national congress. 

This is "so that the entire process of these diplomatic relations is carried out at the highest level and with the greatest transparency and participation, and achieves what we expect," Tomé said.

He noted that Honduras has great expectations and there is a lot of enthusiasm these days in Honduras following the establishment of diplomatic relations. 

"We would like this to become a commitment from the Asian giant and Honduras that will lead to good results," he said.  

Through the potential visit, China and Honduras are expected to open a new chapter for bilateral ties, Song Junying, director of the Latin America and Caribbean Department at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Thursday.

From announcing plans to establish official relations with China in mid-March, to now revealing her upcoming visit to China after cutting "diplomatic allies" with the Taiwan region and establishing diplomatic ties with China, Castro only took roughly half a month to choose the right side of history and fully showed her political wisdom and courage despite pressure from the US and Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, said Song. 

The announcement Honduras made on March 25 to inform the Honduran people, the international community and the media said that Honduras recognizes the existence of only one China in the world, and that the Government of the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate government representing all of China with the Taiwan island as its inalienable territory, said the announcement. 

Despite continued pressure from the US and the DPP authorities of the Taiwan island, Honduras has adhered to the decision of establishing the diplomatic ties with China, which reflects the fact that the one-China principle has become the consensus of the international community, experts said. 

The two sides are expected to officially state their political consensus toward bilateral ties including adherence to the one-China principle during the potential visit, the expert predicted.

The visit could initially build a framework of bilateral cooperation and exchanges, Song said.

For example, the two sides are likely to sign a cooperation agreement with China on jointly building the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative. Under the agreement, China can work with Honduras on the local construction of infrastructure, networks and other fields, which can help the country tackle fundamental bottlenecks that hold back development, Song said. 

Other practical types of economic and trade cooperation, as well as social and cultural exchanges, are also expected to be priority areas for future cooperation, Song said.

However, the establishment of China-Honduras ties apparently is not good news for Washington and Taiwan's DPP authorities, both of which responded with similar rhetoric as the DPP authorities continued hyping the so-called $2.5 billion of economic assistance that Honduras had asked for, according to local media reports in the island.

This is a smear made out of thin air, Song said, who pointed out that "dollar diplomacy" is a commonly used tactic by the DPP authorities, and the establishment of China-Honduras ties apparently declared the bankruptcy of the DPP authorities' "dollar diplomacy."

The countries, which have severed ties with the island of Taiwan, have seen that petty favors provided by the DPP authorities are scarcely comparable to the promising prospects and plentiful opportunities brought by the robust development, huge economic size and big market of the Chinese mainland.

As China and Honduras established diplomatic ties, Chinese enterprises can help Honduras in infrastructure construction, and local characteristic agricultural products can better enter the Chinese market. All these are normal economic and trade cooperation practices between the two countries, which fully conform to the fundamental interests of the two peoples, said Song.