Taiwan and Somaliland share more in common than one would understand.
Both states leverage their relationship with state actors, across two maritime arteries, as a counterweight to security threats posed by China.
In an era of international relations, where state sovereignty is on life support, the case for self-determination without external interference couldn’t be more relevant.
The Global Commons Flow Via Two Arteries
The Bab el-Mandeb and Taiwan Strait remain two of the most geostrategic maritime routes for trade and global security. The exchange of goods and the security of their trade routes can only be secure if state sovereignty is respected.
Sovereignty Under Threat: Bab el-Mandeb and Taiwan Straits
Yet what we see in today’s world is the misuse of power for imperial ambitions, whether by Beijing in the South China Sea and its bid to quell Somaliland self-determination, or Mogadishu with its ‘claims’ to Berbera port.
Either way, Beijing harnesses military and diplomatic pressure to keep the process of international recognition in limbo.
Just last week, Beijing reportedly cut undersea communication cables surrounding Taiwan whilst reports confirm Beijing’s ongoing support for SSC-Khatumo rebels in Somaliland’s eastern region of Sool, in response to Somaliland-Taiwanese ties since July 2020.
In similar fashion, the Somali President, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamed, wrote to U.S. President Donald Trump about Mogadishu’s “handover” of Berbera port to Washington as a means of countering “external threats.”
Ironically, talk of external threats, a.k.a China… one of Mogadishu’s foreign backers, threatens Somalia’s own sovereignty whilst the regime has no legal sovereignty over Somaliland: in fact, Somaliland sits outside of Somalia’s federal state structure.
This dichotomy, sovereignty versus annexation, represents what is at stake.
Security of Maritime Trade
Both maritime passages account for high levels of global trade for the U.S., Europe, and BRICS: specifically, China, the United Arab of Emirates, and Iran.
According to the World Bank, 30% of global trade passes via the Bab el-Mandeb per annum whilst 24% of Chinese, Emirati, and Iranian exports (p.a.) pass through the Taiwan Strait.
Chinese capital investment in Djibouti, Eritrea, and now Somalia contributes to China’s debt-trap diplomacy model with Chinese owned ports, such as Doraleh port in Djibouti, raking in significant profits from transit fees as smaller Chinese shipping firms launch new routes to capitalise on higher rates because of the Houthis’ ‘Al-Aqsa’ campaign.
Therefore, China’s tacit debt-trap diplomacy of Red Sea states disrupt Western economic interests, secure China’s commercial and military interests in the Horn of Africa, whilst threatening to cut off Taiwan sovereignty via buying-out African states, with the exception of Somaliland.
All Roads Lead to the White House: Trump, Hargeisa, and Taipei
Amidst Trump’s review of U.S. policy in the Horn of Africa, talks are ongoing between the White House, Hargeisa, and Taipei.
Undisclosed reports suggest ongoing talks between Somaliland officials and the Trump administration as Somaliland’s Foreign Minister, Abdirahman Dahir Adan, arrives back in Hargeisa soon whilst President Cirro is set to return to Abu Dhabi in coming weeks.
Simultaneously, diplomatic sources, in Hargeisa, told the Daily Euro Times of deepening cooperation between Hargeisa and Taipei with a scheduled delegation to visit Hargeisa ahead of the Taiwanese Foreign Minister in the coming months.
This comes as the Somaliland Ambassador to Taiwan, Mahmoud Adam Jama Galaal, arrived in Taipei last week, in the first set of meetings to deepen relations and prepare for a deeper bilateral agreement pencilled in soon.
Bilateral Relations Set to Deepen in 2025
Ties date back to 2020, when Taipei and Hargeisa made relations official, yet current discussions should be put in context.
Taiwanese-Somaliland relations are a crucial node of support in D.C. amongst Democrats and Republicans, some of which are ‘China hawks’, or hardcore neoconservative realists interested in one thing only: American business.
According to diplomatic sources close to the Foreign Ministry, a Memorandum of Understanding is in the early stages of development with bilateral cooperation on maritime cooperation possible.
Beijing’s reaction to any such MoU could be significant as Beijing ratches up military pressure on Taipei whilst extending its diplomatic support for Mogadishu and secessionist militia fighters in eastern Somaliland.
Only Eswatini and Somaliland hold official relations with Taiwan whilst Chinese lobbying, under the Belt and Road Initiative, has courted African states to cut off contact with Taipei.
Following the visit by Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister, François Chihchung Wu, who visited Somaliland to attend the inauguration of the newly elected president, Abdirahman Irro, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Mao Ning, urged all parties to “uphold the one-China principle” whilst referring to Mogadishu’s “territorial unity”.
Strategic Small State Diplomacy: Maritime Trade & Security
Taipei’s talks with Hargeisa are strategic in nature, as two unrecognised yet autonomous states in the international community deepen collaboration amidst wider attacks on state sovereignty, bound by Chinese-backed aggression.
Ongoing discussions between D.C., Hargeisa, and Taipei will determine the future of state sovereignty for small states in a world upended by a wave of unilateralism.
Somaliland recognition, alongside deeper cooperation with its East Asian ally, offers a real defence for sovereignty at a time when it is under threat.
Existential Threat: Sovereignty
Recognition of Somaliland and Taiwan represents something much bigger than inter-state competition and national interests.
Sovereignty, as a mainstay of state security, is very much on trial and with it the stability of the international system.
This article was written by the Editor-in-Chief of The Daily Euro Times, Gus Anderson.
Diplomatic sources used in this article, that refer to bilateral relations between Somaliland and Taiwan, are confidential.
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Read also:
Anything for a Dollar: Djibouti, Arms Smuggling, and Terrorism
Triangular Diplomacy: Djibouti, the Houthis, and Somalia
Why is Somaliland Strategically Important to the United States?
