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Taiwan urged to boost engagement with Africa

Abiodun Williams, chairman of the Academic Council on the U.N. System, meets ROC President Ma Ying-jeou June 19 at the Presidential Office in Taipei City. (Courtesy of Presidential Office)

• Publication Date：06/22/2012
• Source： Taiwan Today
• By  Rachel Chan

Taiwan should expand its role in Africa by strengthening cooperation and exchanges with civil society groups and nongovernmental organizations on the continent, according to two visiting U.S. scholars June 21.

“This approach would create space for Taiwan in its engagement with Africa,” said Abiodun Williams, chairman of the Academic Council on the U.N. System, during a seminar at the ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei City.

The Canada-headquartered council is an academic institution working to stimulate, support and disseminate research and analysis on the U.N., multilateralism and international organization.

Williams, who delivered a presentation on mainland China’s increasing presence in Africa and the implications for Taiwan, was accompanied by J. Peter Pham, director of the Michael S. Ansari Africa Center at the Atlantic Council. Others attending the seminar included officials from the ROC Ministry of National Defense and Fisheries Agency.

According to Williams, Taiwan faces greater challenges in Africa today than the 1960s when it started dispatching agricultural technical missions to the continent.

Mainland China’s increasing economic and political engagement with Africa in recent years leaves little room for Taiwan to expand relations with nations that are not ROC diplomatic allies, he said.

Williams argued, however, that this can be an advantage and opportunity for Taiwan to cultivate ties with new partners by increasing mutual understanding through a beefed-up program of civil, business, charitable, NGO and religious exchanges.

“That can help build a reservoir of support, as well as good feelings and good relations, in these countries,” he said.

Echoing Williams’ remarks, Pham said in the long term, Taiwan should focus on increasing assistance to civil society groups in Africa, which have largely supplanted governments in meeting the needs of the people.

Since Beijing is not capable of engaging effectively on this level, Pham said, it leaves a great deal of room for Taiwan through such avenues as providing humanitarian aid.

As to strengthening relations between the ROC and its African allies—Burkina Faso, The Gambia, Sao Tome and Principe and Swaziland—Pham counseled leveraging strategic opportunities as they arise.

One example would be assisting Burkina Faso in managing the humanitarian crisis in Mali, which suffered a military coup March 22 over the government’s perceived weak response to a growing rebellion by Tuareg nomads in the northern part of the country.

Separately, Pham touched on the issue of Somali piracy. He said there is little room for cooperation between Taiwan and the U.S. on this growing scourge as it is not a top priority for Washington given the extremely limited number of U.S.-flagged merchant ships in the Indian Ocean.

Pham suggested Taiwan helps its fishing fleet implement upgraded security procedures so as to deter attacks and avoid situations where pirates can extract a king’s ransom for the release of crew members. (JSM)

Write to Rachel Chan at ccchan@mofa.gov.tw