Honduras appoints first ambassador to China, 'a significant step to enhancing bilateral diplomatic ties'

Appointing ambassadors is a significant step to further consolidating China-Honduras relations after the two countries had established diplomatic ties, and the two countries are expected to take actions in concrete and substantial cooperation, Chinese experts said on Sunday after Honduran President Xiomara Castro announced on Saturday to name Salvador Enrique Moncada as the first ambassador of Honduras to China.

"It is with immense satisfaction that I am honored to inform the people that our ambassador to the People's Republic of China will be Dr. Sir Salvador Enrique Moncada…" Castro said on her Twitter account on Saturday.

Salvador Enrique Moncada is a famous pharmacologist and medical researcher in Honduras. Moncada once oversaw work at the Wolfson Institute of Biomedical Research at University College London and researched cancer at the University of Manchester.

"First establish diplomatic ties and then appoint ambassadors - China and Honduras are consolidating their diplomatic relations smoothly and will in the next stage boost economic and trade ties, where the most important aspect of bilateral relations lies," Jiang Shixue, a professor at the Center for Latin American Studies at Shanghai University, told the Global Times on Sunday.

Jiang believes there will be a significant improvement of China's investment in Honduras and China's imports of agricultural products from the Central American country.

The appointment of Moncada as the first ambassador to China followed the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Honduras on March 26, 2023 after the Central American country announced the breakdown of "diplomatic relations" with China's Taiwan region and no more official contact with the island moving forward.

Jiang pointed out that the establishment and continuous consolidation of diplomatic relations between China and Honduras has a very important demonstration effect in the Latin American region, as there are only seven countries remaining there that maintain the so-called diplomatic relations with the island of Taiwan.

In the foreseeable future, we can see the US and the DPP authorities in Taiwan continue to pressure those countries, but it's the general trend that more countries will adopt the correct stance on the international consensus concerning one China, Jiang noted.