Moses' eight-day trip to Taiwan, where he was celebrated with banquets, a salute of 21 cannon shots, parades with great pomp and a ceremony of ROC President Tsai Ing-wen.
From May 26 to June 1, 2018, Haitian President Jovenel Moïse and his wife Martine Moïse led a 30-person delegation for a "state visit" to the renegade Chinese island province of Taiwan, called the Republic of China. China (ROC).
Only 18 of the 195 states in the world recognize the ROC. That number was 20 until 1 May, when Haiti's neighbor, the Dominican Republic, cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC), which is progressively isolating the rebel province. Burkina Faso followed suit on 24 May.
Moses' eight-day trip to Taiwan, where he was celebrated by banquets, a salute of 21 cannons, parades with great pomp, and a ceremony of ROC President Tsai Ing-wen, was full of despair. The Taiwan rump government is desperate to keep Haiti among the dwindling number of states that recognize it, and the Moïse regime, in the middle of a political crisis, is desperate to find money for the Haitian economy to stop sinking. negligence, corruption and neoliberal submission.
From left to right Martine Moise, Jovenel Moise and Taiwan President Tsai-Ing-wen
After the Chinese Communist Party, led by Mao Zedong, seized power in China in October 1949, the Kuomintang of dictator Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan (formerly Formosa) and established the "exiled" ROC, under the protection of the 7th US Fleet stationed in the Taiwan Strait. Under United States aegis, the ROC was a member state of the United Nations and even held a permanent seat on the Security Council until 1971, when the United States, under US President Richard Nixon, recognized mainland China . Since then, the star of Taiwan was going to bed.
Despite its formal demotion, Taiwan is still a vassal state of Washington, which continues to offer the island advanced weapons systems such as underwater technology and new F-35 Stealth fighter aircraft. The ROC does not recognize North Korea or the State of Palestine. However, he recognizes another creation from Washington, the state of Kosovo, which is neither a member of the UN nor an observer state.
The Chinese government has protested strongly after President Donald Trump received a controversial phone call from the Taiwanese president to discuss the "
close economic, political and security ties between Taiwan and the United States," but, he allowed him to to Hawaii and intensified high-level diplomatic meetings between US and Taiwanese officials.
President Taiwanese and Jovenel Moise
Haiti is one of six countries with a population of over two million that recognize the ROC. The other five are the Latin American nations of El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Paraguay. The other 12 states recognizing the Republic of Korea are the tiny nations of Swaziland, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Grenadines and Belize, Vatican City.
During his stay in Taiwan, Moses met with Taiwanese capitalists, trying to attract them to investments in Haiti. He visited power companies and rice farms, as well as the Child Welfare League Foundation and the Committee of Women's Rights Promotion.
So far, Taiwan has only offered Haiti a $ 150 million loan to "electrify Haiti," according to Haitilibre.com. A year ago, Moses promised to build a new energy grid to provide electricity in the country 24 hours a day in the next 18 to 24 months. Even if the loan materializes, it seems doubtful that this promise can be kept.
Meanwhile, the Taiwanese offer pales against the $ 4.7 billion that China has offered to Haiti to completely renovate the dilapidated and non-existent infrastructure of Port-au-Prince, from roads and bridges to power grids and power lines. water systems. China's proposal is part of its global "One Belt, One Road" initiative, which has been acclaimed in Africa and Latin America. Whether to win the favor of Washington or get money as quickly as possible, Moses has instead chosen to launch his lot with Taiwan.
"
This is not a surprise," said former Haitian ambassador Benjamin Dupuy, special envoy in May 2003 at the head of a Haitian official delegation to China to explore diplomatic relations under the presidency of Jean-Bertrand Aristide. "
Jovenel is just a puppet of the United States, who has always supported Taiwan since its inception. It is Taiwan's policy to bribe the political leaders of the Third World countries, especially the small island nations of the Caribbean and the Pacific, to maintain diplomatic relations . "
Benjamin Dupuy
During his trip in 2003, Mr. Dupuy discussed with Chinese officials plans to reforest the island, prospecting for oil, natural gas, and development of bamboo plantations to counter deforestation in Haiti.
Following the visit of Mr. Dupuy's delegation in December 2003, 15 Chinese experts visited Haiti and met with many of Aristide's ministers. "
But two months later, as we know, came the February 2004 coup," Dupuy said. "
So Aristide's decision may have something to do with the second blow against him."
Washington Republicans encouraged Moses in Taiwan. "
An investment of 1 dollar from Taiwan is worth more than 3 dollars of investment from China," said Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). "
Three dollars of Chinese investments will not only not be paid to you, but they come with all kinds of constraints that will be problematic for the coming decades ."
But Dupuy argues the opposite. "China has a lot of resources in US dollars," he said. "
They want to use these resources. Their role in Africa has been very much appreciated and important. The way they treat the countries receiving their development projects is very different from the neoliberal policies of Washington, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund . "
The Haitian president, General Prosper Avril, went to Taiwan in January 1990 to support his military dictatorship. Believing that the trip "would
bring millions of help, " he is rather "
back empty handed, " reports
the New York Times . Two months later, he was ousted by a popular uprising.
Faced with discontent and widespread and growing popular demonstrations, Jovenel Moses could also find that his trip to Taiwan will make him too small, too late.
