Taiwan Card Taken lightly in Somaliland

The quest for Somaliland’s sovereignty endorsement and the nation’s economic empowerment are two intertwined initiatives that must not be abandoned one for the other. 

The case for recognition of Somaliland has always been at the forefront of national debate, and whenever an opportunity to advocate for it arises – such as the UK Parliament’s adjournment debate or the enormous favorite calls from former US officials – the Somaliland government backed by its people effectively seize the momentum to advance their cause. 

Economic empowerment is the next best leverage in the absence of sovereign recognition, as it entails practically all the basic statehood advantages – Taiwan being a good replicable example and indication of this scenario. 

The question that needs to be asked is whether Somaliland is trying to benefit competently from this relationship with Taiwan or is it just one-sided one that gets its energy and efforts from Taiwan alone. 

According to Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, the two countries reached an agreement paving the way for their relationship on February 26, 2020. The agreement – in addition to opening diplomatic missions in Hargeisa and Taipei, included cooperation in areas fisheries, agriculture, energy, mining, public health, education and ICT. 

Besides emergency medical aids for Covid-19 pandemic and the monetary contribution for the last Somaliland joint elections, Somaliland has not fully tapped into the Taiwan card yet in meaningful way. 

These projects in agreement, which are crucial to the development of Somaliland, have not been implemented to date in a large scale, except for a dozen students who went to Taiwan on scholarships and a farming pilot project to teach farmers how to efficiently grow crops.

As the present situation and atmosphere in Somaliland suggests, the Taiwanese envoy to Somaliland and his office might be very puzzled by the behavior of the Somaliland government and the intent of its interest in establishing relations with Taiwan for several reasons. 

So far, Somaliland government seems to be taking Taiwan card lightly and treating it as an international NGO that is only capable of carrying out minute projects in the country. Taiwan plays a significant role in the international trade and cross-border global economy and includes the few global economic, agriculture, education, and technology powerhouses, yet the Somaliland government and local economy movers do not crack the code to rightfully engage with the Taiwan card. 

The current culture of contenting with spoon feeding of foreign countries common in African continent must not be entertained in Somaliland and shouldn’t be applied to Taiwan card, but rather an attitude embracing replication, collaboration and cooperation must be adopted

The government of China – the world’s second-largest economy second only to the United States and which politically believes Taiwan is a parcel of mainland China by waging a fierce diplomatic war against her – has inevitably realized to make trade and business deals with Taiwan because of her influence in global economy. Taiwan is one of the biggest investors in China. Between 1991 and the end of March 2020, approved investment in China totaled US$188.5 billion. In 2019, the value of cross-strait trade was US$149.2 billion. 

Even in Somaliland, if ambitions and desires in respect to Taiwan are not beyond the handouts, just approaching the International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF) – Taiwan’s global development aid agency – with development projects would have made more sense as this agency provided US$502 million in aid in 2020

First, this relationship with Taiwan has led to tensions between Somaliland and China, which is to be expected because the Chinese government believes that Taiwan is part of mainland China.

Taiwan also understands the reaction of Chinese government directed towards Somaliland as – on the part of China – that has become a routine prescription for any Taiwanese diplomatic breakthrough with another country. 

Lithuania – a country in Eastern Europe and a member of the European Union that recently hosted a diplomatic Taiwanese mission office – has come under diplomatic and economic pressure from China over that decision, such as downgrading its diplomatic status, and imposing sanctions on her exports to China.  

Lithuania is very important to Taiwan as a link and gateway to European countries. When Taiwan saw the escalation of tensions between Lithuania and China and the Chinese government’s determination to oppress Lithuania to reverse its decision, it immediately came to its aid by extending an investment of US$200 million to Lithuania in microchip manufacturing as a token of its support. On top of this investment, Taiwan pledges to create US$1 billion credit fund for Lithuania to ease economic fallout from the China’s actions 

Somaliland Chronicle reports that Somaliland Cabinet level delegation is going to Taiwan very soon in response to an official invitation from Taiwan’s president. This is a right step in the right direction.  

Somaliland, on the other hand, does not appear to have understood the full picture. In terms of delegates, such a delegation bound to Taiwan should have been more extensive and diversified. To portray a manner that reflects that Somaliland means business, leaders from chambers of commerce and industry, Somaliland’s companies’ sector, universities, professional groups, and trade associations should have been included. 

Somaliland is a gateway to the Horn of Africa region due to its strategic location, and the relationship between Somaliland and Taiwan is of mutual importance to both countries, with Somaliland benefiting the most. 

Somaliland should design a plan for effectively engaging with Taiwan, in which all stakeholders, including the Somaliland government, large Somaliland corporations, and the business community, meet in collaboration to consider the best possible scenarios for working with Taiwan. 

The development needs of Somaliland are divided into two categories: short-term priorities and long-term objectives. It is critical that the two activities be tackled simultaneously, without favoring one over the other. 

Long-term development necessitates knowledge transfer, and with that in mind, it is critical to sustain Taiwan’s ongoing higher education scholarships and agricultural hands-on training, as they will considerably contribute to long-term development. 

Diverting a substantial amount of Somaliland’s imports to Taiwan while the Somaliland government incentivizes this transition is one strategy for immediate priorities that can be quickly implemented in relation to Taiwan card. Furthermore, collaboration between Somaliland and Taiwanese companies should be established, and some small-scale manufacturing operations may be enticed to relocate to Somaliland, resulting in the emergence of an economic bridge between the two countries and reducing the impact of the country’s skyrocketing unemployment. Other sectors where extending the local market for Taiwanese investors can be beneficial include healthcare, agriculture, education, and fisheries.

Principal actors in Somaliland’s free market should mobilize very soon without further delay to engage with their counterparts in Taiwan with the facilitation of their envoy in Hargeisa, and at the same token demand that the Somaliland government and its Taipei office become an instrumental in streamlining this venture