China on Saturday stepped up its pressure on Taiwan by urging Taipei’s sole remaining African ally, Eswatini, to align with Beijing, Burkina Faso re-established ties with Beijing.
Burkina Faso on Thursday announced that it was severing ties with Taiwan, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs made a similar announcement in Taipei.
It was the second nation in a month to abandon Taipei, following the Dominican Republic, and the fourth since President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took office.
Speaking to reporters in Beijing after signing an agreement to re-establish relations with Burkina Faso, Chinese State Councilor Wang Yi (王毅) said only one African state had yet to come over to China.
“We sincerely hope that this country will join the family of China-Africa friendship at an early date,” Wang said, with Burkinabe Foreign Minister Alpha Barry at his side.
He was confident that all of Africa would stand by China’s side “in the historic cause of China’s full national reunification,” he said.
Taiwan has accused China of using dollar diplomacy to lure away its allies, promising generous aid packages, charges China has denied. Some nations have switched back and forth between Beijing and Taipei several times.
This is the second time Burkina has cut ties with Taiwan. It did so in 1973, before resuming relations with Taipei in 1994.
Barry said a delegation of Chinese experts would visit his nation in the coming days to assess its needs for development assistance, hopefully in time for an agreement by September when Burkinabe President Roch Marc Kabore would be in Beijing for a summit of Chinese and African leaders.
“Burkina Faso intends to fully benefit from the strength and expertise of this country, seeking its support on many social and economic development projects in our own country,” Barry said.
China is Africa’s largest trade partner, with massive investments in mining, construction and banking, though it has been less active to date in Burkina Faso.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique