To the United Nations | Strong US-Chinese tensions over Haiti

Haiti has long been maintained in the Security Council by the United States. This is a former American ambassador, Helen La Lyme, UN ambassador to Haiti.

As part of the annual extension of the political mission led by Mr.^{To me} LIM (BINUH), the Security Council plans to adopt a resolution on Thursday morning. In vain.

United States talks with China (recently joined by Mexico for Haitian file management) did not move forward.

“If the Chinese can close the UN office tomorrow, they will be in a state of anonymity,” said a diplomat who said Beijing was the second-largest economic partner for the UN and would act like Americans in the Trump administration today.

Waste of money, China says

In recent talks, the Chinese, without saying they are “against” the UN mission, have been very critical. “The UN has done nothing, everything we have invested is at a loss,” they argued, the diplomatic source reported.

This position, however, is contrary to Westerners, who, according to a diplomatic source, believe that the Haitian government must “continue to tell” what to do in order to have a “chance to do”.

The UN has not received any comment from the Chinese mission.

Haiti Taiwan, recognizes angry Beijing

The other reason China never cited during the UN talks, many sources told the AFP, was to identify Haiti Taiwan as Beijing’s wrath.

Already in June, China vehemently rejected a Security Council statement on Haiti proposed by the United States. The text, however, frustrated the “deteriorating political, security and humanitarian situation” in the country.

On Thursday, Washington will present a draft resolution adopted by the AFP to be voted on by the Security Council on Friday and to renew the mission’s mandate for one year “until October 15, 2022”.

According to diplomats to put pressure on Haiti, Beijing has recently demanded an extension of only six months.

The country, which has not had a president since Jovnell Moyes was assassinated in July, is in a deep political, economic, social and security crisis, and does not plan for a better election in the second half of 2022.

The additional humiliation for Washington has already been weakened since Joe Biden’s emotionally resigned his recent embassy to Haiti to condemn China’s regime, with China also formalizing its own draft text on Thursday, offering an extension until “April 15 2022”. Text obtained via AFP.

With this overwhelming choice, Beijing is showing that it is ready to veto the American text on Friday and is ready to vote through the Security Council.

Lose face

To keep no one from losing face, one can find a solution without voting on the two competing texts but by providing a technical extension of a few weeks or months of the mandate of the political mission in Haiti.

The same thing happened in September for a UN political mission deployed in Libya. Responsible for the file, the United Kingdom fought against Russia for a long time, so that in the end even the two texts proposed by these two countries were not voted on.

At the last minute of “P5” – the five permanent members of the Council: the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France – to resolve the issue, the Security Council unanimously approved an extension. Four months.