Taipei, July 10 (CNA) Despite Haiti's political turmoil following the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, a former Taiwanese ambassador to the Caribbean nation believes that ties between the two countries will remain solid.
Yang Cheng-ta (楊承達) gave his positive overview of bilateral relations when asked whether Haiti could switch its allegiance to China in the aftermath of the assassination of President Moïse this week.
The former ambassador said given that Haiti is currently embroiled in political turmoil, he believed that the interim government would have no time to deal with the issue of diplomatic relations and its priority would be to try and bring stability to the country.
On top of that, Yang said he does not believe Beijing would try to poach Taiwan's diplomatic ally amid the chaos that Haiti is currently in.
Even if the Chinese government does succeed in lobbying the interim government to ditch Taipei, whether the new Haitian government would follow through with that decision remains unknown, Yang added.
Most importantly, Yang said that relations between Taiwan and Haiti have remained strong all these years, and all bilateral cooperation programs are being carried out smoothly.
Yang was Taiwan's ambassador to Haiti from 2005-2008.
Haiti is one of Taiwan's 15 diplomatic allies. Both countries celebrated the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in April.
Meanwhile, Taiwan's government has condemned the assassination of Moïse, who was killed early Wednesday by a group of unidentified assassins at his private residence in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince.
According to reports from foreign media, at least 28 people were involved in the attack, during which Moïse's wife Martine Moïse was severely wounded.
The situation has prompted the Haitian government to order a state of siege in the country starting Thursday.
