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FOREIGN POLICY TEST

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Sir,


The recently published letter by His Excellency Jeremy HS Liang, the Ambassador of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the country, has really been intriguing to me. I agree with his excellency that ‘all that glitters is not gold’, and that Africa should be extremely cautious about the promises from our suitors such as Mainland China.

This caution should not, in my view, be only applicable to one country, it should apply equally across all countries as history has taught us that Africa has been abused not only by economic interest groups but by religious and political ideologies as well.
The statement by the Taiwan’s envoy really got me thinking, is Taiwan positioned to offer Africa better deals than Mainland China? Does Taiwan have the capacity to go on a spending spree in Africa?

Does Taiwan have the political and economic clout to be taken seriously by Africa and the world? I recently came across an advert in one of the major South African newspapers and what caught my attention and got me thinking was an advert from Taiwan running in the South African print media, looking for English teachers. I was taken aback by this considering that Taiwan has got no diplomatic relations with SA.

The only country in Africa that maintains diplomatic relations is the Kingdom of Eswatini and for some reason the Taiwanese never thought that they should show appreciation of our loyalty by affording us this opportunity that they were affording to a country that has no formal relationship with them. In my mind I kept on trying to find out what could be the real reasons for this; could this have anything to do with the skin colour of our people? Could this have anything to do with how the Taiwanese perceive the quality of our education?


In essence, Taiwan is prepared to offer job opportunities to South Africans over us despite the fact that our country is an English speaking country and in my mind, I find no rationale in us being sidelined. Perhaps his excellency can help me understand how they could support citizens of an unfriendly country over the citizens of a friendly country.


Hanger
MHLUME

NOTE: In an effort to afford them the right to reply, this letter was emailed to the Taiwan Embassy on Monday, September 17 but unfortunately there has been no response.


Ed

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