International and domestic media have devoted a great deal of column space this week to whether Taiwan should write off the debt owed to it by Haiti in the wake of the devastating earthquake that struck its impoverished Caribbean ally on Jan. 12.
Taiwan has already done its fair share, sending rescue teams to search for survivors, donating US$5 million and shipping 70 tonnes of humanitarian supplies to the quake-affected area, while several non-governmental organizations have also announced aid packages and medical missions.
The focus now, however, has switched to whether Taipei will follow the lead of the IMF and a host of countries, which last year canceled large portions of Haiti’s debt. The discussions were spurred by calls this week from the Paris Club for Haiti’s remaining creditors to cancel debts.
Haiti has long been a failed state, with debt problems that stretch back to when the country’s slaves defeated Napoleon’s troops and declared independence from France in 1804. Decades of interference, misrule and plundering of state coffers by a succession of dictators and corrupt rulers have contributed to the failure of Haiti. Last week’s events only served to highlight the shocking state of a nation that has long been ignored, while causing nations around the globe to finally take notice and ponder what can be done to help.
At about US$90 million, Haiti’s debt to Taiwan is not overwhelming. Taiwan can afford to forgive this debt, which would help the ravaged nation get back on its feet.
Whether it would have the desired effect remains to be seen.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has already indicated that a total writeoff will not be simple because the money is owed to several banks, not the government. The president added that he has instructed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate what can be done.
However, domestic critics have argued that forgiving Haiti’s debt would encourage Taiwan’s mostly poor allies to expect the same treatment, something they say the nation can’t afford. Others, however, argue that the sheer scale of the disaster in Haiti and its vacuum of good governance distinguishes it from all of Taiwan’s other allies, making a compelling case for an act of goodwill.
If Taipei is worried about what will happen to its ties with Haiti in the face of a growing Chinese threat to its relations in the region, then it could tie the writeoff to reconstruction contracts and an increase in medical and agricultural assistance.
Speculation is rife that Ma will make an announcement during a rumored meeting that is to take place with his Haitian counterpart Rene Preval during his stop in the Dominican Republic next week.
Ma may see this as an opportunity to gain good publicity, but whatever kind of deal is struck, it should not be made as part of a cheerleading effort for our beleaguered president and should be carried out in as low-key a manner as possible. To do otherwise would be an embarrassment to Taiwan and the ultimate mark of disrespect to victims in Haiti.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long been expansionist and contemptuous of international law. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the CCP regime has become more despotic, coercive and punitive. As part of its strategy to annex Taiwan, Beijing has sought to erase the island democracy’s international identity by bribing countries to sever diplomatic ties with Taipei. One by one, China has peeled away Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic partners, leaving just 12 countries (mostly small developing states) and the Vatican recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign nation. Taiwan’s formal international space has shrunk dramatically. Yet even as Beijing has scored diplomatic successes, its overreach
For Taiwan, the ongoing US and Israeli strikes on Iranian targets are a warning signal: When a major power stretches the boundaries of self-defense, smaller states feel the tremors first. Taiwan’s security rests on two pillars: US deterrence and the credibility of international law. The first deters coercion from China. The second legitimizes Taiwan’s place in the international community. One is material. The other is moral. Both are indispensable. Under the UN Charter, force is lawful only in response to an armed attack or with UN Security Council authorization. Even pre-emptive self-defense — long debated — requires a demonstrably imminent
Since being re-elected, US President Donald Trump has consistently taken concrete action to counter China and to safeguard the interests of the US and other democratic nations. The attacks on Iran, the earlier capture of deposed of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and efforts to remove Chinese influence from the Panama Canal all demonstrate that, as tensions with Beijing intensify, Washington has adopted a hardline stance aimed at weakening its power. Iran and Venezuela are important allies and major oil suppliers of China, and the US has effectively decapitated both. The US has continuously strengthened its military presence in the Philippines. Japanese Prime
After “Operation Absolute Resolve” to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, the US joined Israel on Saturday last week in launching “Operation Epic Fury” to remove Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his theocratic regime leadership team. The two blitzes are widely believed to be a prelude to US President Donald Trump changing the geopolitical landscape in the Indo-Pacific region, targeting China’s rise. In the National Security Strategic report released in December last year, the Trump administration made it clear that the US would focus on “restoring American pre-eminence in the Western hemisphere,” and “competing with China economically and militarily
RSS