Monday, August 31, 2020

Somaliland-Taiwan Ties Pose New Challenge for China

 The Foreign Policy Research Institute published on 28 August 2020 an analysis titled "China-Taiwan Competition over Somaliland and Implications for Small Countries" by Thomas J. Shattuck.  

Somaliland and Taiwan exchanged "representative offices" earlier this year.  Taiwan has informal arrangements with a number of countries that fall short of diplomatic relations.  Its office in Somaliland is the only case, however, where it uses "Taiwan" in the official name instead of "Taipei."  While seemingly a minor issue, it is especially annoying to China.  

Beijing's attempt to prevent this development failed.  The author concludes that Somaliland may be a special case because Taiwan can offer mutual respect for Somaliland, which is not recognized by any other country, and Beijing, which has formal diplomatic relations with Somalia, cannot.