On May 1, 2018, the Dominican Republic established diplomatic ties with the People’s Republic of China (PRC), obligating the Republic of China (ROC) to cut its own 77-year long political relationship with the country. The change by the Dominican government left just 19 countries globally that officially recognize the ROC as the legitimate government of all of China.
Of these, 10 of the remaining (more than half) are in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The official acceptance of the Dominican government’s action by the PRC provided further indication that the informal "diplomatic truce" that prevailed with the PRC during the KMT government of Ma Jing-yeou in Taiwan from 2008 until 2016 has come to an end. Following elections in Taiwan in January 2016 that brought to power Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party to power led the PRC to again accept the offers of (and even to court), countries wishing to change their diplomatic relations from Taiwan to the PRC.
A month ago Roberto Rosario finally said the reason his US visa was cancelled last year. He was pressured by then US Ambassador Walley to accept Haitian nationals as if they were Dominicans the Civil Registry, even though that was prohibited by Dominican law. After Roberto Rosario made it clear he was not going to succumb to foreign pressures in what is essentially an internal matter of the Dominican government, it was made public through the media that Roberto Rosario's visa had been cancelled.
