Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

Beijing targets Haiti as bid to isolate Taiwan from its diplomatic allies heads to the Caribbean

Beijing targets Haiti as bid to isolate Taiwan from its diplomatic allies heads to the Caribbean

If Port-au-Prince ‘can uphold the one-China principle, the Chinese government is willing to establish country-to-country ties’, commerce official Wang Xiaoyang says in newspaper interview. China can provide ‘interest-free loans and concessional loans’ and will ‘respect the recipient country’, he says.

The Caribbean nation of Haiti has become the latest target for Beijing as it seeks to isolate Taiwan
from its dwindling diplomatic allies around the world.

Haiti is one of just 17 countries that maintain diplomatic relations with the self-ruled island following a three-year campaign by Beijing to lure away its partners – launched after Tsai Ing-wen, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party was elected president in 2016 – that saw five nations switch allegiance.

In an interview with local newspaper Le Nouvelliste last week, Wang Xiangyang, the head of the office of commercial development of China in Haiti, delivered Beijing’s opening bid.

“If the Haitian government can uphold the one-China principle, the Chinese government is willing to establish normal country-to-country ties with Haiti and enhance cooperation in politics, the economy and trade, public hygiene and education,” he said.

“China is now the world’s second-biggest economy. As a permanent member of the United Nations, China is playing an increasingly important role in international affairs … In addition to free assistance, [China can also provide] interest-free loans and concessional loans,” he said.

“China will fully respect the recipient country and direct investment according to the country’s needs to areas like infrastructure that has huge funding gaps.”

As well as giving the newspaper interview, Wang has held several meetings with Haitian officials, including Tourism Minister Marie Gréta Roy Clément and former prime minister Evans Paul. He also hosted the Panamanian ambassador to Haiti.

Panama switched allegiance to Beijing from Taipei in 2017 and subsequently received more than US$3 billion in loans and financial aid from its new diplomatic partner.

Beijing’s campaign to win over Taiwan’s diplomatic allies has also seen it targeting the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific.

The Solomons government has been debating the issue but said last week that it had yet to reach a decision on the switch. Officials from the United States meanwhile have warned the tiny Pacific nation to be wary of funding promises from Beijing and not be pressed into cutting ties with Taiwan.

Xu Yicong, China’s former envoy to Ecuador, Cuba and Argentina, said the biggest obstacle to Beijing wooing Taiwan’s diplomatic allies came from the US.

“For Taiwan’s allies that haven’t had ties with China, the biggest pressure comes from the US, which has adopted a more anti-China approach under the Trump administration,” he said.

Last weekend, Stanley Kao, Taipei’s top representative to the US, urged all Taiwanese diplomats stationed overseas to maintain close and cordial ties with their host nations.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and although it has some economic ties to Beijing, Fan Hesheng, director of the Institute of Latin American Studies at Anhui University, said their development would be limited in the absence of a full diplomatic relationship.

“Haiti is one of the least developed countries in Latin America and though there are no formal ties between China and Haiti, economic activities [between them] have been gradually expanding over the years,” he said.

An academic from the Institute of Taiwan Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Haiti may ditch Taiwan in the near future.

“China’s expanding economic influence like the Belt and Road Initiative looks very attractive to Haiti, and China has peacekeeping troops there,” said the person, who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the topic.

The foreign affairs ministry in Port-au-Prince did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the issue.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×