MISLEADING:The government said Abuja’s announcement that it would sever ties was meant to confuse the international community, as no formal diplomatic ties exist
Taipei Times
Date: Jan 13, 2017
By: Stacy Hsu / Staff reporter
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday said Nigeria has decided to play along with a Chinese
Nigeria`s President Muhammadu Buhari greets China`s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, left, during his visit to the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Nigeria on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters
“peremptory political scheme,” after the west African country announced that it would no longer recognize Taiwan as a nation and would cease all diplomatic relations in accordance with the “one China” principle.
The ministry in a news release accused Nigeria of seeking to confuse the international community by declaring that it would honor the “one China” principle and sever diplomatic relations with Taipei, as the two nations have never established formal diplomatic ties.
“The ministry strongly protests and deplores the Nigerian government’s cooperation with China to carry out a politically motivated, unreasonable, peremptory and brutal scheme,” it said.
The strongly worded statement followed a joint news conference by Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama and visiting Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) in Abuja on Wednesday, at which they said that Taipei’s office in the capital would be shut down and moved to Lagos, Nigeria. [FULL STORY]
