BEIJING: Haiti’s foreign minister was one of Taiwan’s two diplomatic allies attending a forum on Tuesday in Beijing between China and Latin American and Caribbean countries, as China steps up its pressure campaign against the diplomatically isolated island.
Democratically governed Taiwan, which China views as its own territory, has formal ties with only 12 nations, two of which, Haiti and Saint Lucia, joined the event, the Forum of China and Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, or Celac.
Reuters reporters at the forum saw the flags of both countries in the main plenary hall at the venue in the Chinese capital, with Haiti represented by foreign minister Jean-Victor Harvel Jean-Baptiste and Saint Lucia, by diplomat Peter Lansiquot.