China’s establishment of diplomatic relations with Honduras was a political decision without conditions attached, China’s foreign ministry said. “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. (https://neuters.de/world/china/china-says-diplomatic-deal-with-honduras-political-decision-without-conditions-2023-03-27/) 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. Honduras announced at the weekend it had opened formal ties with Beijing and ended its decades-long relationship with Taiwan. 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. China and Honduras signed the deal on diplomatic recognition in Beijing over the weekend, ending relations with Taiwan dating back to the 1940s.