China pledged to deepen cooperation and exchanges with Tanzania on Friday as its top diplomat toured the region, promising that Beijing would “always stand together” with Africa.
Wang Yi also called on Tanzania to work with China to uphold international law and multilateralism, in what one observer said would be the Chinese foreign minister’s key message to Africa amid Washington’s apparent retreat from the rules-based international system .
Wang will wrap up his six-day tour of the continent on Monday. His trip featured stops in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Lesotho. He initially planned to visit Somalia – in what would have been the first visit by a Chinese foreign minister since the 1980s – but the trip was postponed on Friday. China’s embassy in Somalia cited “scheduling conflicts” as the reason for the change in itinerary.
However, Wang and his Somali counterpart Abdisalam Abdi Ali spoke on the phone on Sunday, with the Chinese diplomat saying China supported “Somalia in safeguarding its national sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, and opposes the collusion between ‘Somaliland’ and the Taiwan authorities in pursuing independence”.
Ali told Wang that Somalia “adheres to the one-China principle, recognises Taiwan as an inalienable part of the People’s Republic of China, and regards Taiwan-related matters as purely China’s internal affairs”, the Chinese foreign ministry said.
Somalia’s northern region of Somaliland declared independence in 1991 but only secured formal recognition from Israel – the first sovereign state to do so – late last month, a move criticised by Beijing.