China slams Taiwan's Tsai Ing-wen for opening office in self-declared country Somaliland

China on Tuesday August 18 slammed the Taiwan government for officially opening a representative office in Somaliland. Terming the establishment of the representative office as a 'farce', China said Somaliland’s status as an independent country has not been obtained Internationally.

On Monday, August 17, Taiwan has officially opened its representative office in Somaliland, after holding talks for over six months with the latter, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) declared. Taiwan and Somaliland - a self-declared East African state signed a technical cooperation agreement at the ceremony and the former will soon send a technical mission to Hargeisa to work on different projects, the ministry said.

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China slams Taiwan on opening representative office in Somaliland

Meanwhile, China mocked Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen for bragging about opening the representative office in Africa. "Taiwan’s DPP authorities cooperated with Somaliland in East Africa and staged a farce of establishing a so-called 'representative office' each other, but Somaliland’s status as an independent country has not been obtained Internationally, this move by both sides was criticized by many parties inside and outside the island", a Chinese publication said in its report.

"Among the many oppositions, the DPP authorities still went their own way. On the 17th, the so-called Taiwan Representative Office in Somaliland was established. The leader of the DPP authorities, Tsai Ing-wen, also boasted that this was an 'important moment in bilateral relations', which triggered a flogging of public opinion", the report said criticising the Taiwan government.

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Friendship based on common values of freedom

The opening ceremony of the representative office was led by Taiwan's chief envoy in Somaliland Lou Chen-hwa and Somaliland's foreign minister Yasin Hagi Mohamoud, with members of the foreign missions in Somaliland, MOFA informed. A pre-recorded congratulatory message by President Tsai Ing-wen was played and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu delivered his remarks live via a video call during the ceremony, according to MOFA. Tsai's in her video message said the friendship between Taiwan and Somaliland is based on the common values of freedom, democracy, justice and the rule of law.

Last month Taiwan and Somaliland had announced to establish representative offices in each other’s countries, after signing a treaty in Taipei in February. Currently, Taiwan maintains diplomatic ties with 15 only countries, with Eswatini being its only partner in Africa. Somaliland, which is on the Horn of Africa and has a population of nearly 3.9 million. It is not recognized as a country by the international community and seeks to expand its reach in a part of the world where it has little influence.

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