By Gideon Chitanga
Among many defining issues, the Taiwan issue emotively looms large in Sino-Africa relations, as well as in Beijings global foreign policy, and it is for a reason.
China has strongly pursued a policy of reunification with Taiwan, and the current leadership emphasise that this goal must be achieved peacefully or forcefully to realise complete national sovereignty and territorial integrity beyond the legacy of colonialism.
Taiwan defected from mainland China at the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949 to set up what has become a contentious administration which now risks to become a flashpoint for potential major conflict as China pursues unification, while Western countries back Taiwan. African countries have developed strong mutually beneficial political and economic ties with China, and view Beijing as a trusted friend.
As modern China unshackled herself from years of colonial interference from Dutch, Japanese, British and extended US external interference, and the painful civil war to establish the modern government under the Peoples Republic of China PRC, Taiwan defected to assert its autonomy under the ROC. Since the end of the World War II, the issue of Taiwan, which includes several islands such as Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and smaller others pervasively invokes the pernicious divisive meddling of Western powers in China, and other foreign territories undermining national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
