Analysis: Yu Bo, China's new Ambassador to Honduras

Aug 31, 2023

On 29 August, veteran diplomat Yu Bo (于波) assumed his post as the People’s Republic of China’s first ever Ambassador to Honduras1. It had been announced in March this year that the two countries had formally established relations for the first time2. Yu had been serving as Chargé d'affaires ad interim for the embassy since its inauguration in June3.

Yu Bo has spent his entire career working in diplomatic roles relating to Latin America, from the Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to postings in Bolivia, Peru, Cuba, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and now Honduras. A more detailed version of Yu’s CV can be found at the end of this article.

Yu has played a key role recently in establishing Chinese embassies in Central America. Indeed, before his posting to Honduras, Yu led the Chinese delegation tasked with setting up China’s embassy in Nicaragua4. When it was announced that Honduras was also switching ties to China, Yu was again selected to lead the team to help set up China’s embassy there5.

With Honduras’ switch to China, the only countries in Central America that still retain ties with Taiwan are Guatemala and Belize. Taiwan historically had dominant support from the region, however, over the years, support for Taiwain has progressively diminished. Most recently, the Central American Parliament (PARLACEN) voted to remove Taiwan’s permanent observer status and replace it with China6. PARLACEN is the parliamentary body of the Central American Integration System (SICA) and its member countries are: Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Dominican Republic, and Panama. All of these countries, except Guatemala, switched ties to China within the past 6 years.

It will be important for Honduras’ diplomatic switch to be seen as successful, otherwise China will find it difficult to convince the remaining Central American countries to follow suit. As such, it is expected that Yu Bo’s priority will be to support the on-going trade deal negotiations with Honduras and establish relationships with local stakeholders, including government ministers and business leaders.