Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud has strongly reaffirmed his country's commitment to the one-China principle and praised what he called 65 years of "straight-line" relations between his country and China.
In a recent interview with China Media Group aired on Friday, Mohamud described the two countries' shared positions as a key foundation of China-Somalia ties.
"The commonality, for one example, is the one-China principle, and one-China, one-Somalia principle, the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Somalia and China, which, both of us have some people who were claiming that they do not respect that. So, China has always been consistently in support of Somali unity and it's very clear, their support and understanding. China has always been with us and we always have been with them. We never recognize Taiwan. And China has the capacity to bring back Taiwan," said Mohamud.
Beyond geopolitics, the president highlighted China's historical trajectory as a blueprint for Somalia's national reconstruction.
"China went through a difficult era in its history and has survived and has, even later on, prospered. Somalia has difficulty in that, so the commonality we had is in some areas that China's approach is useful to Somalia, and we are looking at those -- how to survive and prosper. There is a lot of very, very rich experience in China, and China is open for that purpose, and they have been providing us insights and the civilization that (gave rise to) this. So, this is again not only the sovereign and the territorial integrity, but also the respect of our two countries to each other. We've never had any problem with China whatsoever. In the last 65 years, the relationship was still a straight line. There were no ups and downs in the last 65 years," said Mohamud.
This year marks the 65th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between China and Somalia.
Somali president reaffirms one-China principle, hails 65 years of bilateral ties with China
