Chinese (Taiwanese) President Ma Tinj-jeou [file]
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (defend.ht) – Haiti will receive the President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) on Tuesday during his visit through the Caribbean and Latin America.
President Ma Yinj-jeou will be received by President Michel Martelly and Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe and will participate in a ceremony to lay the first stone of a new building for the Court of Cassation.
The main purpose of Yinj-jeou’s 12-day trip through the region is to attend the inauguration of Paraguayan President-elect Horacio Cartes on August 15, said the Taiwanese Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Ko.
Ma will also visit Haiti and three of the island’s diplomatic allies in the Caribbean. They are St. Lucia, St. Kitts and Nevis, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Ma will make a transit stop in New York on the way to Paraguay and return to Taiwan via Los Angeles, where he will transit briefly.
It will be the first time Ma makes a transit stop at New York. The U.S. stops bear political significance as Washington sometimes uses stops as a reward or punishment for Taiwanese presidents.
Ko said while details of the trip are still being arranged, it is clear that the trip will be “low key” and “surprise free.”
This is a very important event.
Haiti was one of the first nations to recognize Taiwan’s independence after they broke away from Mainland China in 1949.
Taiwan has been one of Haiti’s best friends, over the years.
We must not forget this.