Q: Recently, the head of external affairs department of the regional authority of Somaliland visited the Taiwan region of China, and signed a so-called “Coast Guard Cooperation Deal”. What is your comment on this?

A: The Somaliland regional authority's action has blatantly violated the one-China principle and harmed China's sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity. The Chinese side is resolutely opposed to this action. 

There is but one China in the world, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and the government of the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. Taiwan is never a country, not in the past, and never in the future. It is self-deceiving that the Taiwan authority colludes with the Somaliland regional authority to seek political gains, which will not stop the inevitable reunification of China.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, as well as the 80th anniversary of the recovery of Taiwan. Such documents with international legal effect as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation formed an integral part of the post-WWII international order and also affirmed Taiwan's status as China's inalienable territory from a legal perspective. The UNGA Resolution 2758, adopted in 1971 with an overwhelming majority once and for all, resolved the issue of the representation of the whole of China, including Taiwan, in the U.N., and precluded any possibility of creating “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan.”

Somaliland is a part of Somalia’s territory. The Chinese side firmly opposes Somaliland and the Taiwan authority hosting each other's institution or having any form of official interaction under any name or pretext. We urge the Somaliland regional authority to have the basic sense about the reality and refrain from running against the historical trend, so as to free itself from self-inflicted consequences.