Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has ordered that a special project be launched to counter China’s “legal warfare” distorting UN Resolution 2758, a foreign affairs official said yesterday.
Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday cited UN Resolution 2758 and Mogadishu’s compliance with the “one China” principle as it banned people from entering or transiting in the African nation using Taiwanese passports or other Taiwanese travel documents.
The International Air Transport Association’s system shows that Taiwanese passport holders cannot enter Somalia or transit there.
Photo: Taipei Times
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the move and warned Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland until the Somalian government revokes the notice.
The official, who asked to remain anonymous, said that Lin was visiting Eswatini when Somalia made the announcement and that he has instructed the ministry to establish a response task force to counter the “new type of suppression.”
As Somalia’s ban clearly contravenes the universal value of personal freedom, the ministry expressed a solemn protest and, with the government of Somaliland, asked the US, other like-minded countries and the International Civil Aviation Organization to take concrete actions and speak up for Taiwan, the official said.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a news conference said that China “highly commends” Somalia’s entry ban on Taiwanese passport holders, which undoubtedly proves that China was behind Somalia’s decision to suppress Taiwan, the official said.
Over the past few years, Beijing has consistently distorted UN Resolution 2758 in an attempt to squeeze Taiwan’s international space, they said, adding that the South African government last year cited it as the reason it was forcing Taiwan’s representative office to move out of Pretoria.
As Taiwan firmly stood its ground and other democratic countries voiced support for Taiwan, the office is still operating normally today, past two relocation deadlines, they said.
Facing Somalia’s suppression, Taipei would seek support from Taiwan-friendly international entities while continuing to counter China’s ambition to undermine Taiwan’s international status, the official said.
At a UN Security Council meeting last month, a US representative to the UN accused China of misusing the resolution in its attempts to isolate Taiwan, as well as mischaracterizing other countries’ policies and constraining their choices, the ministry official said.
The US also emphasized that the resolution does not preclude Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the UN system and other multilateral fora, they added.
Lin instructed the ministry and overseas representative offices to boost promotional and lobbying efforts, and to make preparations to counter China’s legal warfare, the official said.
Meanwhile, US representatives Tom Tiffany and Andy Ogles on Thursday sent a joint letter to Somalian Ambassador to the US Dahir Hassan Abdi to express their deep concern regarding over “the decision of the authorities in Mogadishu to unilaterally designate Taiwanese passports as invalid.”
It is “a directive no doubt issued at the insistence of the People’s Republic of China,” the letter said.
“Please understand that this move could result in severe retaliatory consequences for both your government and all Somali nationals present in the United States, including those with ‘Temporary Protected Status’ and those here on visas or parole,” it said.
In addition to revoking the visas of Somalians in the US and swiftly repatriating them, Washington has other tools at its disposal, including immediately suspending all US visa issuances to Somalian nationals, banning Somalian passport holders from travel to or transit through the US, halting bilateral US assistance, closing down the Somalian embassy in Washington and expelling its staff, and suspending US-Somalia diplomatic relations, it said.
“After all, if the Somali government insists on acting as little more than a branch office of the Chinese Communist Party, there is no reason for the United States to continue to pretend that it is independent, legitimate, or worthy of US recognition,” Tiffany and Ogles wrote.
They urged the Somalian government to avoid potential repercussions by “immediately reversing its arbitrary and misguided edict regarding the validity of Taiwanese passports.”
Additional reporting by Lee I-chia
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS