15468: (Blanchet) Fw: Taiwain reaffirms ties to Haiti with navy ships' historic visit (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Max Blanchet <MaxBlanchet@worldnet.att.net>


----- Original Message -----
From: "A H A D ListServ" <info@ahadonline.org>
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2003 12:35 PM
Subject: Taiwain reaffirms ties to Haiti with navy ships' historic visit


> http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/world/americas/5765843.htm
>
> Posted on Fri, May. 02, 2003
>
> Taiwain reaffirms ties to Haiti with navy ships' historic visit
> BY JANE REGAN
> Special to The Herald
>
> PORT-AU-PRINCE -- Three Taiwanese navy ships steamed past fishermen
> in dugout canoes and into Port-au-Prince harbor on Thursday to make
> their first-ever visit to one of Taiwan's oldest partners.
>
> Flying the blue and red flags of Haiti and Taiwan, two guided-missile
> frigates and a supply ship carried 800 sailors and midshipmen who
> waved and snapped photos from the gray decks boasting machine guns
> and rocket launchers.
>
> Most people along the seaside boulevard turned little more than a
> curious eye to the ships' arrival. But inside the port authority
> walls, officials were out in force to welcome the Taiwanese, who have
> supported the Haitian government for 47 years. Taiwan is the Haitian
> government's largest donor.
>
> The National Palace band learned Taiwan's anthem, school children
> waved Taiwanese flags and shouted greetings in Mandarin, and units of
> Haiti's coast guard and National Police saluted as Taiwanese officers
> and sailors, in dazzling white uniforms, stepped onto Haitian soil.
>
> At a welcome ceremony, Haiti's Minister of the Interior Jocelerme
> Privert said the Taiwan navy's presence -- part of a three-month
> training cruise -- ``puts a seal on our relationship at a
> particularly difficult time.''
>
> Both Taiwan and Haiti ''share a history of exclusion and ostracism by
> the powerful countries,'' Privert said, referring to Taiwan's
> exclusion from the United Nations and differences between Haitian
> President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's government and the Organization of
> American States, the United States and other countries over allegedly
> fraudulent elections and human rights violations.
>
> ''We are both struggling to conserve our independence and autonomy in
> the face of attacks and selfishness,'' Privert said.
>
> ''Haiti is one of our most important partners,'' Taiwan's ambassador,
> Hsieh Hsin-ping, confirmed. Only last week, he noted, Taiwan gave
> Haiti $3 million for a government literacy program.
>
> Although the European Union, the Inter-American Development Bank and
> other donors are blocking assistance to the Aristide government,
> Taiwan plans to disburse about $40 million in grants and $15 million
> in loans between now and 2005.
>
> SIGNS OF LARGESS
>
> Signs of Taiwan's largess can be seen throughout Haiti, where police
> cars and garbage trucks often say ``Gift of the Republic of China.''
>
> Taiwan has paid for roads, low-cost housing, experimental rice farms
> and a sports complex.
>
> The island nation has also directly supported Aristide with funds for
> his foundation and the Lafanmi Selavi orphanage he founded in the
> 1980s.
>
> Because of China's claim on Taiwan, the Taipei government is only
> recognized by 28 nations, 13 of them in the Caribbean basin.
>
> Taiwan, which rewards its friends with what is sometimes called
> ''dollar diplomacy,'' has stood by every government to occupy Haiti's
> National Palace since 1954, including dictators François Duvalier and
> his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier.
>
> NEWS CONFERENCES
>
> Public panic about severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), which
> originated in China and spread to neighboring Taiwan, put the visit
> in doubt, even though the ships had left Taiwan long before the first
> SARS case appeared. Opposition politicians had called the government
> ''irresponsible'' before the government held several news conferences
> to reassure the public.
>
> At the welcoming ceremonies, Taiwanese Adm. Chu Tsong-rong delivered
> a certificate promising that none of his sailors posed a health
> threat.
>
>
>
> Serge Déclama
> AHAD / Créole Connection
> P.O. Box 158
> Atlanta, GA  30009-0158
> 404.510.5581
> info@ahadOnline.org
> http://www.ahadOnLine.org
>
>