Frequently Asked Questions
What happened at the Taiwan embassy in Haiti?
A group of people in full military gear broke into Taiwan’s embassy in Haiti on Thursday morning, following the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse, Taiwan foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said on Friday. The Haiti police arrested 11 armed suspects, described as “mercenaries” by Taipei.
The embassy had closed on Wednesday for security reasons after Moïse’s killing, so the facility was largely empty when the intruders broke in, Ou said. Embassy security discovered the breach and phoned staff and the Haiti police.
Some doors and windows were broken, but no other property had been lost or damaged, Ou said.
“At this difficult time, the government of Taiwan reiterates its support for Interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph in leading Haiti to overcome this crisis and restore democratic order,” Ou said. “Taiwan strongly condemns this violent and barbarian act.”
What does Taiwan have to do with Haiti?
Haiti is one of only 15 governments in the world that still maintain diplomatic relations with Taiwan’s capital, Taipei, instead of Beijing.
Neither Taiwan nor China accepts diplomatic relations with a country that recognizes the other, after the two split decades earlier in civil war. In 1949, after being defeated by Mao Zedong’s Communist troops in China’s mainland, Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists, known as the Kuomintang, fled to Taiwan and took up residence. The island has since grown into a resilient democracy and a crucial cog in the global tech industry, despite not being recognized as a country by most of the world.
Back in 1956, Haiti recognized the Republic of China — Taiwan’s official name — over Mao’s People’s Republic of China, and has maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan since.
Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen visited Haiti in 2019 to bolster support after the neighboring Dominican Republic switched its diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing. Mindful of China’s economic draw, Taiwan has provided financial support to Haiti over the years, including helping upgrade its electricity grid last year and donating 280,000 face masks as part of pandemic relief.
What is Beijing’s stance?
For years, Beijing favored the political stability of Taiwan maintaining its small number of diplomatic partners. But when Tsai — whose Democratic Progressive Party is more critical of Beijing than its rival, the Kuomintang — took office in 2016, Beijing began to turn up the heat.
Beijing has been gradually peeling off Taipei’s remaining diplomatic partners, with the help of inducements such as loans and promises of economic and diplomatic support. Kiribati and the Solomon Islands switched their diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 2019, following El Salvador, Burkina Faso and the Dominican Republic in 2018.
The Caribbean, along with Africa and the South Pacific, is a key theater of competition between Taipei and Beijing. While many countries in the Caribbean are small island nations, each represents a potential vote in international bodies such as the United Nations, Interpol and the World Health Organization — entities in which Taiwan cannot participate directly because of its lack of diplomatic recognition.
Beijing has wooed Haiti in recent years. In June, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield criticized China for using “vaccine diplomacy” to pressure Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, saying Beijing was putting “tremendous pressure” on Haiti, according to Taiwan’s official Central News Agency.
Pei Lin Wu and Lyric Li contributed to this report.
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How did Taiwan become embroiled in Haiti’s political crisis? - The Washington Post
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