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Sometimes it even pays to read Al Jazeera: Malawi dumps Taiwan


I know, I know--it's Al Jazeera, preferred network of Osama bin Hiding.

But non-Western news sources are worth reading, if only because they cover parts of the world nobody else does.

Case in point: Malawi cuts ties with Taiwan.

China has been making major diplomatic and economic inroads in Africa lately, including a 2-billion dollar line of credit for the Angola, so that one of the most corrupt governments in the world can sidestep World Bank and IMF transparency requirements, while also sending in thousands of workers to help rebuild the civil war-decimated infrastructure.

Now China has used its economic muscle to convince Malawi to dump the Nationalists on Taipei:

Malawi has cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan after 41 years and switched allegiance to China, which has become a major economic power in Africa.

The decision, announced on Monday, reduced Taiwan's allies to just 23 countries, most of which are small and impoverished nations in Latin America, Africa and the South Pacific.

Joyce Banda, Malawi's foreign affairs minister, said on Monday: "We have decided to switch from Taiwan to mainland China after careful consideration on the benefits that we will be getting from mainland China."


Given the fact that Malawi is land-locked, poor, AIDs-ridden, and has a $209 million trade deficit (and China has not been a major trading partner) it is obvious that the wooing of President Bingu wa Mutharika's beleaguered government is a purely political tactic in mainland China's ongoing attempt to further isolate Taiwan.

And it's working: now Taiwan is recognized by fewer than two dozen countries and its internal politics is in turmoil:

Malawi's decision comes at a particularly bad time for Chen Shui-bian, the Taiwanese president, who has emphasised Taiwan's status as separate from China.

On Saturday, Chen's Democratic Progressive Party was devastated by the opposition Kuomintang in legislative elections.

Analysts said a major reason for the defeat was Chen's preoccupation with Taiwan's identity, and his failure to boost the island's sagging economy.


And where in the American press would you have found a story about Malawi (which is really a story about China's continuing strategy for breaking out of its regional power status to challenge the US as a true superpower)?
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