Hargeisa (PP News Desk) — The Somaliland Administration government has instructed the Taiwan Office to cease any publicity about its presence in Hargeisa. The decision to urge the Taiwan mission to keep a low profile came after the Federal Government of Somalia designated Taiwan as an entity acting against the sovereignty of Somalia. The Federal Government of Somalia issued directives to airline operators not to bring to Somalia any person claiming to be “a citizen of the Republic of China,” the variant name under which Taiwan operates. Somalia recognises the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and views Taiwan as part of China.
The Federal Government of Somalia was indifferent to the presence of Taiwanese “diplomats” in Hargeisa before relations between Mogadishu and Hargeisa soured, following the Somaliland Administration, a secessionist entity, signing an illegal maritime Memorandum of Understanding with Ethiopia in January 2024.
The new Somaliland Administration government, which assumed power in December 2024, committed itself to mending relations with Mogadishu, thanks to shuttle diplomacy facilitated by Djibouti. President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi has adopted a conciliatory policy aimed at what a journalist in Hargeisa described as a “bold attempt to undo damage caused by his predecessor, who crossed so many security and diplomatic red lines.”
Taiwan first opened a diplomatic mission in Hargeisa in 2020. Former President of Somalia Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo reportedly gave former President Muse Bihi Abdi verbal permission about Taiwan office. Somaliland “MPs and senators in the bicameral legislature lobbied the Federal Government of Somalia to disregard its long-standing One-China policy in return for votes in the 2022 presidential elections” the journalist in Hargeisa added.
© Puntland Post, 2025
