Dominican Republic-Taiwan relations are the
bilateral relations
Bilateralism is the conduct of political, economic, or cultural relations between two sovereign states. It is in contrast to unilateralism or multilateralism, which is activity by a single state or jointly by multiple states, respectively. When ...
between the
Dominican Republic and
Republic of China
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the northeast ...
, now commonly known as Taiwan. The two countries maintained official relations from 1944 to 2018.
At the time it broke relations, it was the largest economy amongst the 19 UN member states to have had fully recognized the Republic of China as the
sole legitimate representative of all of China.
On April 30, 2018, the Dominican Republic announced they were severing diplomatic relations with Taiwan and would establish relations with the
People's Republic of China, recognizing Taiwan as an "inalienable part of Chinese territory". Although this decision was mostly due in part to political reasons, and not that of the general public. A recent survey suggests that 71% of Dominicans want to restore relations with Taiwan, and some even see China as a threat to democracy and Dominican Republic's sovereignty. It was suggested that Dominicans were angry about the Chinese embassy's perceived meddling in internal political affairs when a senator criticized the then-ruling government of
Danilo Medina for being too friendly with China.
Luis Abinader, who was later elected in the
2020 Dominican Republic general election
General elections were held in the Dominican Republic on 5 July 2020 to elect a president, vice-president, 32 senators and 190 deputies. They had originally been planned for 17 May, but were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. They are t ...
, has praised Taiwan for its success handling the coronavirus.
Diplomatic missions and personnel
Taiwan's former embassy in the Dominican Republic was located in the
Bella Vista neighbourhood of
Santo Domingo. The Dominican Republic's former embassy was located in the
Shilin District of
Taipei.
Víctor Manuel Sánchez Peña served as Dominican Republic's ambassador in Taipei from 1997 to 2000 and again from 2004 to 2011.
In April 2012, Julia Ou (), an
Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC; ; Pha̍k-fa-sṳ: ''Khièu-vu Vî-yèn-fi'') is a cabinet-level council of the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China (Taiwan). The council was founded in 1926 in Canton (Guangzhou) in Guangdong, Kwan ...
official attached to Taipei's embassy, was found stabbed to death in the bedroom of her Santo Domingo apartment. The murder remained unsolved by the end of the year.
Bilateral visits
In August 2008, Taiwanese President
Ma Ying-jeou visited
Santo Domingo and met Dominican Republic President
Leonel Fernández. They agreed that the two countries would begin to push for the signing of a
free trade agreement.
References
External links
Embassy of the Republic of China in the Dominican Republic
Embassy of the Republic of China in the Dominican Republic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dominican Republic-Taiwan relations
Bilateral relations of Taiwan
Taiwan