Taiwan, officially the Republic of China, has lamented that the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari frustrated the Taipei Trade Office from Abuja to Lagos State in 2017.

Despite the frustration it suffered under the Buhari administration, the East Asian country noted that it was committed to a three-decade diplomatic relations with Nigeria, which started during the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida.

The representative and Head of Mission of Taipei Trade Office in Nigeria, Amb. Andy Yih-Ping Liu, shared the frustration of his home country under the Buhari administration at a session with journalists recently.

At the session, Liu first explained how the federal government under General Ibrahim Babangida invited the Taiwan Government to establish a diplomatic mission in Nigeria in 1990.

The envoy said: “We have had a full-fledged government mission in Nigeria since 1991. This marks the 32nd year of our mission in Nigeria. We actually started in 1990 because General Ibrahim Babangida made Taiwan the most important strategic partner for Nigeria to develop its economy.

“In 1997, we closed our mission in Lagos so that our mission will be moved to Abuja in 2000 with other foreign missions. Nigeria invited the Taiwan Government to set up a mission. Nigeria also invited us to set up our mission in Abuja in 2000.

“In 2017, however, our office was forced from Abuja back to Lagos on the directive of President Muhammadu Buhari. As a result, our office moved back to Lagos in 2017. I was sent in again to Nigeria in October 2020 to restore the confidence and relations between Nigeria and Taiwan,” he added.

Liu, also, described Nigeria as the best example of democracy in West Africa, noting that Taiwan was excited with President Bola Tinubu’s open declaration to make South Eastern Nigeria the ‘Taiwan of Africa’.

He noted that many countries around Nigeria “have been experiencing coup d’etat. But Nigeria remains a strong democratic state that continues to grow despite some challenges she may have.

“Taiwan and Nigeria have many things in common and expressed optimism that trade ties between the two would grow. We are very happy to see how democratic elections have been held early this year in Nigeria and the subsequent swearing-in of the President and National Assembly members in May and June respectively.

“We marched into full-fledged democracy in the year 2000, we followed only one year behind Nigeria. So from the year 2000 till now, we have regular presidential and parliamentary elections every few years. Early this year, Nigeria had her presidential and parliamentary elections. Ours will be in January next year.

“We have never discussed how we are going to develop our democracies, yet both of our people marched into democracy with our own free will, almost at the same pace, at the same time and we want to hold it dearly.

“The reason I have to mention this is because Nigeria is now not just the biggest democracy in Africa, but the best example of democracy in West Africa. So many countries around you are experiencing coup d’etat, they can’t even hold their own democratic system well enough. So, this is the best thing Nigeria and Taiwan share,” he emphasised

On making South-east the ‘Taiwan of Africa’, the envoy said his country “is ready to collaborate with Nigeria on economic development. In November 2022, President Tinubu declared openly that he would like to make the South-east become the Taiwan of Africa.

“This proclamation was widely reported and we were very happy to hear him say that because he didn’t mention Hong Kong, he didn’t mention China but he specifically mentioned Taiwan.

“He would like to develop the South East, with great talents in business, and industry, among others to become Taiwan of not just Nigeria but entire Africa. That’s a tremendous privilege to us Taiwanese Mission in Nigeria, and also for our government to hear the declaration,” he added.

Liu added that the East Asian country “is a small population the size of Lagos but we have built everything from scratch. We invest so much into education, technology, development and research. So education is the most important factor that moved Taiwan forward from late 1960.

“We have been through all the stages of economic development from the light industry of fabric, plastic, and rubber and into the heavy industry of shipbuilding, petrochemicals, and information technology. We invest smartly into education and offer free education from grade one to grade nine.

“But most importantly, no matter how we develop, the most important thing that we have developed is a strong and high percentage of the middle class and the middle class requires a democratic transformation from the old totalitarian order to full-fledged democracy.” (Courtesy, excluding headline, THISDAY)

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