China's envoy in Kenya says Taiwan reunification 'will surely' happen

 

Ambassador Guo Haiyan said taiwan's reunification with the Chinese mainland is inevitable. [Brian Ngugi, Standard]

China's ambassador to Kenya, Guo Haiyan, said on Friday that Taiwan's reunification with the Chinese mainland is inevitable.

She made the comments during the opening of a photo exhibition in Nairobi marking the 81st anniversary of what Beijing calls Taiwan's "restoration" to China.

"The motherland must be reunified, and will surely be reunified," Guo said in a statement.

She said attempts by Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party and "Taiwan independence" forces to challenge that outcome "are doomed to fail," and that they could not stop "China's eventual and inevitable national reunification."

The exhibition, titled "Remembering Taiwan's Restoration, Advancing National Reunification," was organised by Xinhua News Agency's Africa regional bureau and China Photo Service, with the Chinese embassy providing guidance.

Two groups promoting Beijing's unification policy, the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification in Eastern Africa and its Kenya branch, also helped organise it.

According to the organisers, the photographs cover the period of Taiwan's "restoration" and the development of cross-Strait relations, and are presented as evidence of China's recovery of sovereignty over the island.

Guo said people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait "share the same roots and origins and form a community with a shared future."

She accused the DPP and pro-independence groups of acting "in collusion with external forces" to push "de-sinicisation" and to promote the idea that Taiwan's status is undetermined.

Another speaker, Zhao Jian of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification in Kenya, said Chinese compatriots "share the same blood" and are "one family that cannot be divided."

Erastus Mwencha, a former deputy chairperson of the African Union Commission, framed the anniversary as part of a wider anti-colonial history, drawing parallels with Africa's own experience.

"African freedom was not a gift; it was paid for in blood, from the Mau Mau struggle in Kenya to the liberation movements across Southern Africa," he said in a statement.

He said Africa therefore understood "the sacred value of national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and self-determination."

Mwencha said the African Union's commitment to the "One-China policy" reflected the importance of national unity.

"We continue to hope that cross-Strait relations will remain characterised by peace, dialogue, and constructive engagement."

He noted that 26 African nations voted in favour of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 in 1971, which gave the People's Republic of China the China seat at the United Nations, and said: "Africa stood with China."

Guo said the Japanese surrender ceremony in Taipei on October 25, 1945, returned Taiwan to China after 50 years of Japanese colonial rule.

She cited the Cairo Declaration, the Potsdam Proclamation and Resolution 2758 as underpinning the "one-China principle."

China's parliament designated October 25 as a commemoration day for Taiwan's restoration in 2025.

Guo praised Kenya's position, noting that a 2025 joint statement issued during a state visit by Kenya's president said Nairobi "resolutely opposes any form of 'Taiwan independence'" and backs Chinese efforts to achieve national reunification. She said Beijing believes Kenya "will continue to abide by the one-China principle."

Guo said she hoped Chinese compatriots in Kenya would "unequivocally oppose 'Taiwan independence'" and "contribute to advancing the great cause of national reunification." She praised Chinese community organisations in Kenya for what she called a tradition of patriotism.

The event was attended by Xinhua's Africa bureau chief Ying Qiang, among others.