Taiwan squeezed as Beijing and Burkina Faso start diplomatic ties
Foreign ministers sign joint communiqué two days after West African nation ended relations with the island
Beijing and Burkina Faso established diplomatic relations on Saturday, two days after the West African nation severed ties with Taiwan.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Burkina Faso counterpart Alpha Barry in Beijing, where they signed a joint communiqué on building diplomatic ties, China’s foreign ministry said. The communiqué said there was only one China, that Taiwan was an inseparable part of China, and that Burkina Faso would not have official ties with Taiwan.
Barry arrived in China on Saturday for the first such visit since the West African nation suspended cooperation with Beijing in 1993, before switching recognition to Taiwan a year later.
Burkina Faso announced its decision to cut ties with Taiwan on Thursday, the latest in a string of nations to do so and leaving the island with just 18 diplomatic allies, including the Vatican.
Beijing sees Taiwan as a renegade province and has stepped up military action and pressure on its international space since Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party became the self-ruled island’s president two years ago.
“We will not make any concessions,” she was quoted as saying by the Central News Agency on Saturday.
