Haiti and Honduras are likely the next in line to break off ties with Taiwan, diplomatic sources said yesterday, after the Dominican Republic on Monday switched diplomatic recognition to Beijing.
Three of Taiwan’s current and former diplomatic allies in Latin America have jointly set up representative offices in China and one of them is Haiti, former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Lin Yu-fang (林郁方) told a news conference in Taipei.
“The other two are Panama and the Dominican Republic, which have severed ties with Taiwan and switched diplomatic recognition to China,” said Lin, who is convener of the KMT-affiliated National Policy Foundation’s Foreign and Defense Affairs Division.
Photo courtesy of the National Policy Foundation
Lin said that Haiti could be the next ally to switch, despite Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu’s (吳釗燮) dismissal of the possibility on Tuesday on the grounds that Haitian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Rodrigue visited Taipei from Sunday to yesterday.
Even though Rodrigue’s visit is expected to be followed by a visit by Haitian President Jovenel Moise, the main purpose of the visits could be to negotiate a financial deal, which usually signals ar a “final rip-off” attempt before jumping ship, Lin said.
Echoing Lin’s views, former ambassador to Haiti Yang Cheng-ta (楊承達) said the Dominican Republic’s severance of ties with Taiwan would likely influence its neighbor.
“It goes without saying that demands will be made during Moise’s upcoming visit, or maybe both sides have already closed a deal. In either case, the amount of money involved could be an astronomical figure,” Yang said.
Lin also singled out Honduras, whose bilateral trade with China is several times that with Taiwan.
“The truth is, ever since China snapped up Panama [in June last year], none of our diplomatic allies in Latin America are considered safe,” Lin said.
Taiwan has 10 allies in Latin America and the Caribbean — Haiti, Honduras, Belize, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Saint Lucia, Saint Christopher and Nevis, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Former minister of foreign affairs Francisco Ou (歐鴻鍊) said the government should also keep a close eye on Burkina Faso.
“Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) has expressed the hope that no [African countries] would be absent from the China-African Cooperation Summit in September, saying that he wants to take a ‘family photo’ with everyone,” Ou said.
That President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) made a state visit to only one of the nation’s two African allies, Eswatini, last month serves as a warning that ties with Burkina Faso could be on shaky ground, he said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique