Could Haiti’s woes offer Beijing an opportunity to win over another Taiwan ally?

Name: Haiti earthquake death toll nears 1,300 as rescuers search for survivors ahead of tropical storm
Uploaded: 2021-08-16T12:38:18.000Z
Duration: 2 min 27 s
Description: Haiti earthquake death toll nears 1,300 as rescuers search for survivors ahead of tropical storm

The island was plunged into turmoil following the assasination of its president and is now threatened by a tropical storm days after a deadly earthquake

Taipei has already pledged US$500,000 in aid, but observers say it can offer Covid-19 vaccines to preempt mainland China’s overtures

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Saturday’s earthquake was the latest disaster to hit Haiti. Photo: Bloomberg

Lawrence Chung

Published: 8:38pm, 16 Aug 2021Updated: 8:38pm, 16 Aug 2021

The latest natural disasters to strike Haiti, coupled with the political turmoil that followed the assassination of the country’s president, have raised concerns in Taiwan and the US that the island, one of Taipei’s last diplomatic allies, may switch recognition to Beijing.

Pro-Taiwan President Jovenel Moise was murdered by a hit squad on July 7, creating a power vacuum as a result of the death from Covid-19 of his constitutionally designated successor, Chief Justice René Sylvestre, the previous month.

The country had already faced growing political unrest prompted, in part, by the pandemic that has killed 570 people and infected more than 20,500 as of Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s 7.2-magnitude earthquake killed at least 1,297 people and injured 5,700 others and Tropical Storm Grace threatened to compound the misery by bringing mudslides and flooding late on Monday or Tuesday.

US Republican Congressmen Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry recently warned in a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that the “potential ripple effects” from Moise’s assassination might cause further instability and open doors to “political interference by the People’s Republic of China”.

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Haiti earthquake death toll nears 1,300 as rescuers search for survivors ahead of tropical storm

“The PRC will most certainly seek to take advantage of the political turmoil in Haiti to further marginalise US and Taiwanese interests,” the letter said.