Pathfinder
Editor, Senior Moderator
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Friday, January 22, 2010
11:12 Mecca time, 08:12 GMT
China and Taiwan tussle over Haiti
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</TD></TR><TR><TD align=middle>China says it will continue to step up the aid effort to Haiti without competing with Taiwan [AFP]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>The governments of China and Taiwan have stepped up pledges of aid and assistance to earthquake-devastated Haiti, in a potential test of relations between the two political rivals.
Haiti is one of only a handful of countries with diplomatic ties to Taiwan, a self-ruled island which Beijing regards as a renegade province.
Taiwan has already sent aid worth $5m to Haiti, a figure the Chinese government aims to increase upon in an aim of wooing Taiwan's current diplomatic ally.
China has already pledged $4.4m in aid and sent a plane carrying $2m worth of medical supplies, tents and clothing after Tuesday's earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation.
According to Taiwan's Central News Agency, the country has declined to work jointly with China on relief efforts in Haiti.
The two countries have long competed for global recognition, sometimes using "chequebook diplomacy" to woo aid-dependent poorer nations. Beijing still seeks to restrict Taiwan's world space, though tensions have eased since Ma Ying-jeou, the "China-friendly" Taiwanese president took office in 2008.
Ma may deliver aid personally in a visit later this month to the neighbouring Dominican Republic, a move sure to anger China.
According to Shelley Rigger, a Taiwan scholar at Davidson College in the US state of North Carolina, China has used aid in the past to try and pressure Haiti to break its Taiwan ties. And when they sent United Nations peacekeepers to the country in 2004, many assumed part of that mission was to court Haiti to recognise Beijing.
Read more at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/01/2010122691841411.html
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Friday, January 22, 2010
11:12 Mecca time, 08:12 GMT
China and Taiwan tussle over Haiti
</TD></TR><TR><TD height=5><!----></TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top><TABLE class=dixerit_ignore style="DISPLAY: inline" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR><TD style="HEIGHT: 14px" vAlign=top align=right width="100%"><TABLE style="WIDTH: 33px; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 border=0><TBODY><TR><TD>
Haiti is one of only a handful of countries with diplomatic ties to Taiwan, a self-ruled island which Beijing regards as a renegade province.
Taiwan has already sent aid worth $5m to Haiti, a figure the Chinese government aims to increase upon in an aim of wooing Taiwan's current diplomatic ally.
China has already pledged $4.4m in aid and sent a plane carrying $2m worth of medical supplies, tents and clothing after Tuesday's earthquake devastated the Caribbean nation.
According to Taiwan's Central News Agency, the country has declined to work jointly with China on relief efforts in Haiti.
The two countries have long competed for global recognition, sometimes using "chequebook diplomacy" to woo aid-dependent poorer nations. Beijing still seeks to restrict Taiwan's world space, though tensions have eased since Ma Ying-jeou, the "China-friendly" Taiwanese president took office in 2008.
Ma may deliver aid personally in a visit later this month to the neighbouring Dominican Republic, a move sure to anger China.
According to Shelley Rigger, a Taiwan scholar at Davidson College in the US state of North Carolina, China has used aid in the past to try and pressure Haiti to break its Taiwan ties. And when they sent United Nations peacekeepers to the country in 2004, many assumed part of that mission was to court Haiti to recognise Beijing.
Read more at:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2010/01/2010122691841411.html
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