The government of Taiwan recommended this Tuesday to its citizens not to travel to Cuba, after the island denied entry to several members of a Taiwanese family at the end of last year.
Cheng Li-Cheng, director for Latin America and the Caribbean of the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference that It is still “not clear” whether Cuban authorities accept Taiwanese passports or not.
The official described the information published by the Cuban Government as “inconsistent” about the Taiwanese documents, which is why the government of that country advises its citizens to extend any trip to Cuba until they obtain more information about it, according to the state news agency. CNA.
At the end of December The Cuban government allowed entry only to two members of a Taiwanese family -who presented a Canadian passport- and denied entry to three others, who showed a Taiwanese passport. The entire family had arrived on the island on a tourist visit from Canada, the country where they reside.
The victims of the incident had to suffer confiscation of their passports, a ten-hour detention at the airport and, finally, deportation to Canada despite having valid visas.
The argument was that the Caribbean island supports the “one China principle” and, therefore, does not recognize the validity of Taiwanese passports.
The “one China principle”, one of the pillars of Beijing's foreign policy, postulates that the People's Republic of China is the only legitimate representative of China in the world and that Taiwan is an inalienable part of its territory, a precept rejected for Taipei.
As a result of the event, Taiwanese authorities initiated an investigation into the incident through the Taiwan representative office in Colombia.
In August 2023, the Cuban government ratified its alliance with China after the visit to Taiwan of the then speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, which fueled the conflict in the strait.
“We reaffirm the firm rejection of actions aimed at harming the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the People's Republic of China. “Cuba reiterates its unrestricted attachment to the principle of ‘one China,’” ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel said at the time on Twitter.
Taiwan is a territory that has been claimed for 25 years by China, and the Asian giant's government has said it is willing to use force to annex that territory to its country if necessary.
In 2012, the Cuban government prohibited entry to the island of Chen Chu, mayor of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, who was traveling with a delegation to the island in order to observe its development of organic agriculture.
Cuba broke diplomatic relations with the Republic of China - the official name of Taiwan - in 1960 to establish them with the People's Republic of China, becoming the first country in the region to do so.
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