There could be a few strangers at the party when the China-Africa Summit opens on Friday — a rebel group of five countries with formal ties to Beijing’s diplomatic rival, Taiwan.
China has invited representatives of the five — Gambia, Malawi, Burkina Faso, Swaziland and São Tomé and PrÃncipe — to attend the summit as observers, although it is still not sure if they are coming.
Taiwan counters that even if the five countries do send people to the summit, they will not be officials, merely ordinary citizens, as a way of showing they have no governmental relations with Beijing.
About 170 countries recognise China, compared with just 24 for democratic, self-ruled Taiwan, mostly Third World countries in Africa, Central and South America, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
China regards Taiwan as a rebel province and, under its “one China” policy, Beijing refuses to deal with any country that has diplomatic relations with the island.
Beijing, as its economic and diplomatic power and reach grow, has gradually been taking away Taipei’s allies in an effort to isolate the island. China has seen Taiwan as part of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 and has used numerous means, including threats of military force, to try to bring it back to the fold.
Beijing could use the forum to offer Taiwan’s African allies financial incentives to ditch the island and switch sides, if any of them actually turn up. With the meeting fast approaching China has not said if any are even coming.
“We have not heard any news yet about the countries which do not have diplomatic ties with China,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Jianchao said earlier this week.
“We will respect these countries’ final decision.”
Relations are “tight” between Taiwan and its five African allies, Lee Chen-hsiung, Africa department head at the Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said on Tuesday.
“Our relations are quite stable now, as all aspects of cooperation with them there are still not bad,” Lee told a news conference. “I can tell you everything is very normal.”
Taiwan offers its poor African allies medical aid, infrastructure and job skills training, but it does not publicise the value of this assistance.
Oil-rich African state Chad was the latest country to change sides, switching to Beijing in August. Chad was one of six countries to change allegiance since 2000.
Beijing and Taipei often trade insults over which is using “dollar diplomacy” in the form of offers of aid or cheap loans to curry influence around the world.
Some countries have used this to their advantage, threatening to suspend ties with one side or the other should a demand for money be refused.
Niger and Taiwan renewed relations in 1992, causing a break in the African country’s ties with China, but winning Niamey a $50-million Taiwan loan. Niger went back to Beijing in 1996.
In 1998, Taiwan lost the Central African Republic — which has switched sides a record six times — and Guinea Bissau after turning down loan requests. Then Taiwan Foreign Minister Jason Hu said Guinea Bissau asked for a “huge amount of financial aid — so large that we had to tell them that we couldn’t possibly handle it alone”. – Reuters 2006