One of the world’s trickiest relationships is being tested in devastated Haiti, where China and Taiwan are rushing aid to one of Taipei’s few remaining diplomatic allies.
China has previously used aid to try to persuade countries to end relations with Taipei, while Taiwan has used financial support to try to keep the few small, mostly impoverished nations that recognize it.
While the aid to Haiti comes with large Chinese flags on display, analysts say it has no apparent strings attached, attributing that to recent cross-strait developments and China’s settling into its role as a global power and the responsibilities that come with it.
“What’s really interesting here is that China is apparently providing Haiti with assistance without making any demands regarding Haiti’s relationship with Taiwan,” said Taiwan academic Shelley Rigger of North Carolina’s Davidson College.
A cargo plane left Beijing on Saturday carrying US$2 million of China’s promised US$4.2 million in aid for the quake-hit island, with which it has no diplomatic ties.
Instead of tussling with Taiwan, China probably sees the quake as a chance to project its “soft power” to a wider audience, China expert Steve Tsang of Oxford University said.
“From Beijing’s perspective, it is desirable not to be overshadowed by Taiwan’s rescue efforts, and relatively easy and inexpensive to play a positive humanitarian role in the, as it were, backyard of the USA,” Tsang said.
Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is one of 23 nations that recognize Taiwan. Taiwan has so far pledged US$5.5 million.
China has used aid in the past to try and pressure Haiti to break its ties with Taipei, Rigger said. When China sent UN peacekeepers to Haiti in 2004, many assumed part of that mission was to court Haiti to recognize Beijing.
China’s approach this time may have to do with the relations with Taiwan since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May 2008 with the aim of toning down the hostile relations between Beijing and former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
One of China’s major victories when Chen was president was convincing longtime Taipei ally Costa Rica to switch sides.
Since Ma came to power in May 2008, he has promoted what he calls a “diplomatic truce,” putting the wrestling over diplomatic ties aside.
It is also possible China’s rapid and visible response to the Haiti disaster may be far more simple — Beijing is recognizing that “politicizing this horrific tragedy would be wrong at every level,” Rigger said.
China is still raw from the earthquake in Sichuan Province in May 2008, which left almost 90,000 people dead or missing.
A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman on Saturday said the aid was not political.
“When China suffered from the Sichuan earthquake, other countries offered aid. Now we can help,” she said.
She didn’t give her name, citing ministry policy.
“China is a big country and it is shouldering its humanitarian responsibilities,” said Shi Yinhong (石印紅), a professor of international relations at People’s University in Beijing. “Among ordinary Chinese, no one talks about whether we have diplomatic ties with Haiti when talking about the aid.”
Still, it might be too soon to determine China’s intentions in Haiti, one Taiwan-based expert warned.
“They have no incentives to launch a diplomatic war for now, but we have to watch after the situation stabilizes,” said Kan Yi-hua (甘逸驊), a professor of diplomacy at National Chengchi University.
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