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A6 WORLD NEWS
Friday 17 March 2023

Honduras ditching Taiwan raises larger geopolitical concerns

By MEGAN JANETSKY and AP that the Biden adminis-
MARLON GONZÁLEZ tration “must understand
Associated Press and respect” Honduras’
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Hon- needs and decisions.
duras’ decision to cut dip- But some, like Paraguay
lomatic ties with Taiwan in and Guatemala, remained
favor of China is yet anoth- steadfast in their support
er sign of growing Chinese for Taiwan. Guatemalan
influence in Latin America. officials reiterated the gov-
For decades the Asian su- ernment’s “recognition of
perpower funneled billions Taiwan as an independent
of dollars into investment nation that shares demo-
and infrastructure projects cratic values.”
across the region. Now, as Over the past two decades,
geopolitical tensions sim- China has slowly carved
mer between China and out a space for itself in Latin
the Biden administration, America by pouring money
that spending has paid off. into the region, investing in
Honduras’ decision was the major infrastructure, energy
second foreign policy coup and space projects.
in a week for China, which Between 2005 and 2020,
brokered an agreement the Chinese have invested
between Iran and Saudi more than $130 billion in
Arabia to reestablish diplo- Free Party presidential candidate Xiomara Castro acknowledges her supporters after general Latin America, according
matic relations last week. elections, in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, Nov. 28, 2021. to the United States Institute
Now, Taiwan will be rec- Associated Press of Peace. Trade between
ognized by only 13 coun- ties. Honduras’ announcement David Castrillon-Kerrigan, China and the region has
tries. But some of the few “These are political deci- on Tuesday was a blow to research-professor on Chi- also shot up, expected to
remaining in Latin America, sions. The world has been the Biden administration, na-related issues at Colom- reach more than $700 bil-
like Paraguay and Guate- moving in this direction,” which has rather fruitlessly bia’s Externado University. lion by 2035.
mala, promised Wednes- Reina said. “It is a complex tried to persuade countries “For countries, like Hon- That investment has trans-
day to keep their support decision, we understand, in the region to stick with duras, not recognizing lated to rising power for
for Taiwan. but Honduras’ foreign Taiwan. Taiwan, a U.S. ally, the government in Beijing China and a growing num-
Honduras’ minister of for- policy should seek to ben- has pushed for sovereignty meant missing opportuni- ber of allies.
eign relations, Enrique efit the people. We believe at the same time that Chi- ties,” Castrillon-Kerrigan. In Honduras, that has come
Reina, told The Associated that this step will benefit the nese President Xi Jinping The United States “is defi- in the form of construction
Press on Wednesday that country.” has insisted the island is nitely losing influence on of a hydroelectric dam
Hondurans “are grateful” The Central American na- firmly under its control. every front, especially the project in central Hondu-
for their past relationship tion follows the steps of El In that sense, Tuesday’s an- economic front, but also ras built by the Chinese
with Taiwan, but that their Salvador, Nicaragua, Pan- nouncement also exempli- diplomatically, politically company SINOHYDRO
economic links to China ul- ama and the Dominican fies the American govern- and culturally.” It’s left the with about $300 million
timately pushed their gov- Republic in turning their ment is “losing it’s grasp island with a dwindling in Chinese government
ernment to cut diplomatic backs on Taiwan. on” Latin America, said number of allies. Reina told financing.q

Thai police to get mental health checks after fatal standoff

BANGKOK (AP) — Police their physical and mental off in which a senior officer eral’s Office has ordered hend him. In addition to
in Thailand will be sub- health, officials said Thurs- holed up and fired a gun random health checks be initially using tear gas and
ject to random checks of day, after a 27-hour stand- into the air until he was sub- carried out on officers na- stun guns in an effort to
dued by fellow officers. tionwide to help avoid simi- evacuate him, a junior of-
Police Lt. Col. Kitikarn Sang- lar situations. Members of ficer sang for Kitikarn in an
bun died in a hospital the public are also encour- attempt to calm him down,
Wednesday night of mul- aged to report cases where intermittently asking him to
tiple gunshot wounds sus- they are concerned about turn himself in.
tained during the standoff officers’ mental health. But as the confrontation
at his home on the fringes Kitikarn had holed himself escalated, shots were ex-
of the capital Bangkok, up in his home Tuesday changed between Kitikarn
said police Col. Rangsan when fellow officers came and the officers besieging
Sornsing, superintendent of to take him for psychiat- him.
the police station in the Sai ric treatment, said deputy Video of the end of the
Mai neighborhood where national police chief Gen. confrontation released by
the standoff took place. Torsak Sukvimol and other the police showed Kitikarn,
Kitikarn had been suffering officials. He fired into the clad in shorts and a T-shirt
from mental health issues air and in the direction of and clutching a carving
and stress in his work and police who arrived at the knife in his left hand, smash-
A group of armed commando police leave from the home of a personal life, police said, scene. Police evacuated ing through a second-story
senior police officer in Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, March without elaborating. and cordoned off the sur- window and leaping down
15, 2023. Thai media reported that rounding area as they tried into a small, cluttered
Associated Press the police Inspector Gen- several methods to appre- backyard. q