Somaliland President meets with High-level delegation from China

By: Staff Writer

Somaliland President Friday met with a high-level Chinese delegation led by Amb Zhou Yuxiao China’s ambassador to China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) at the presidential palace.

During the meeting, both sides discussed a wide range of issues pertaining to the strengthening bilateral ties between China and Somaliland, especially on Economy, trade and development.

President Bihi and the delegation from Forum on China-Africa Cooperation also agreed to strengthen mutual respect to each other.

The meeting comes barely a day after the media outlets reported Somaliland’s president has rejected a conditional offer by a delegation of Chinese diplomats to cut ties with Taiwan and added that he is taking steps to strengthen relations with the country.

On Thursday (Aug. 6), the Somaliland Chronicle cited government sources as saying that Bihi met with the delegation, which included Qin, for several hours. During the meeting, the Chinese side offered a development deal which included road and airport infrastructure projects and the installation of a liaison office in Somaliland on the condition that Bihi sever ties with Taiwan.

The Chinese ambassador to Somalia, Qin Jian, has been in Hargeisa since August 1, where he met with senior officials at the Somaliland foreign affairs ministry.

On July 1, Taiwan and Somaliland have signed an agreement to set up representative offices in each other’s territory, the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) announced Wednesday.

The agreement was signed in February, and will help foster Taiwan’s cooperation with African countries and expand Taiwan’s presence in East Africa, said Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.

Wu stressed that the offices were official in nature, despite falling short of mutual diplomatic recognition.

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