Taiwan and Somaliland: which other countries are seeking international recognition (and how they became independent)?

In 2020, Taiwan The US and Somaliland forged closer ties by establishing embassies in their territories. And, a few days ago, the relationship reached a new peak with the visit to Taiwanese lands of Essa Kayd Mohamoud, Somaliland’s foreign minister.

It is, according to the diplomat, a milestone in his “strong and cordial relationship”.

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The mission, however, did not sit well with those who do not recognize them as independent countries. China, for example, regards Taiwan as a rebel territory and is eager to annex it at once.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, described the visit as the search for the “separatism” and as an action that “fan the fire” and mine “the independence and unity of other countries”.

But, as well as Somaliland and Taiwan, there are other territories that have declared themselves independent countries, but whose title is rejected or not recognized by other nations. In this article, we remember some of them and their stories.

A woman looks after her donkeys in a town near Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland. REUTERS (HANDOUT/)

1. Somaliland

“It is a desert territory the size of Uruguay, which proclaimed its independence in 1991.″.

This is how the BBC describes it, a medium that remembers that it is still “struggling to be recognized as a country”.

“Located in the so-called Horn of Africa, between Ethiopia and Somalia —a State of which it is officially a part—, Somaliland was a British protectorate until its independence on June 26, 1960.″.

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However, after five days, it was annexed to Italian Somalia, a decision that would cause serious problems that, in “less than a decade”, caused the country to collapse.

After a coup – the president was assassinated by one of his bodyguards – Somalia became the Somali Democratic Republic.

An attempt was made to establish a Marxist-Leninist military regime that was unpopular, to the point that the dictator Siad Barre he planned a genocide between 1987 and 1989. It was not until 1991 that Barre was overthrown, triggering a civil war.

Today, Somaliland has its own flag, currency, passports, Parliament and everything that could make one think that it is a country with all the laws. Its capital is Hargeisa.

“But neither the United Nations nor the Arab League nor the African Union, nor any country in general, recognizes it as an independent nation.”, notes the BBC.

2. Taiwan (Republic of China)

There are those who compare the Taiwanese case with that of Somaliland: both have “larger neighbours, Somalia and China, which insist that they are part of their territories”.

In practical terms, China sees Taiwan as a rogue province that will eventually reintegrate.

There are records of Chinese rule from 232 BC, as well as that there were great migratory waves”from the beginning of the s. seventeenth”.

After comings and goings, the WWII allowed China to control Taiwan with “the consent of the allies United States and United Kingdom”.

Product Of The Chinese Civil War, Chiang Kai-shek -who led the country before the arrival of communism- fled to the island. In 1949, it declared its independence and called the country the Republic of China.

Then a dictatorship would come until Lee Teng-hui, ‘the father of democracy’changed the face of Taiwan and opened it up to the world.

Currently, Taiwan has a constitution, an army and “democratically elected leaders”.

According to the BBC, they are barely 14 “States that recognize Taiwan”, most of them located in Latin America and the Caribbean. These include: Guatemala, Belize, Haiti, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Paraguay.

Vatican City, the Marshall Islands, Eswatini, etc. are also listed.

3. Abkhazia

It is located in the “southwestern slope of the Caucasus, on the Black Sea coast”, being its capital sukhumi.

The Deutsche Welle tells that its origin is traced to the fall of the Soviet Union. After “the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic” became an independent state, Abkhazia became a “autonomous republic within Georgia”.

“But the disagreements between the Government of Georgia and the Abkhazian people made it declare its independence on July 23, 1992″, writes the medium.

Of course, this did not mean calm.

It was on August 26, 2008 that Russia gave its support, recognizing it as an independent country, which was not seconded by USA and the European Union.

4. Transnistria (Pridnestrovian Moldavian Republic)

Until 2018, recalls France 24, the country was inhabited by 500 thousand people and had no international recognition.

Transnistria saw life after the fall of the Soviet Union. In 1991, he decided to separate from the “Republic of Moldova and declare its unilateral independence”.

“The conflict broke out between the separatists armed by Russia and Moldova”, writes the medium. And he adds:

“A ceasefire was signed in 1992, but since [entonces] no concrete solution has been found to give an official status to Transnistria, which is officially part of Moldova, even though it has declared its independence”.

Turkish Cypriots gather to watch a military parade in Nicosia, the capital of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. AFP (IAKOVOS HATZISTAVROU/)

5. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)

Its origin is traced back to 1974, when Turkey invaded Cyprus and dismissed the government. “Subsequently the Turkish army occupied 35% of the territory of Cyprus and the island was divided”, writes the BBC.

Thus, the November 15, 1983, Northern Cyprus announced that it was becoming independent. In this way, the Turkish Cypriots formed the TRNC.

In 2004, a referendum was organized to determine whether to unify the island: there was no consensus.

6. Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR)

Located in the Western Sahara that had Morocco and to Polisario Front -”the Saharawi national liberation movement– faced.

It is an area that was colonized by Spain -which was even called the Spanish Sahara-, which, upon being released, was claimed by the kingdom of Morocco. In parallel, in 1973, the Polisario Front was created, which began a war without quarter to defend its interests.

In February 1976the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic is proclaimed“with the support of allies such as Algeria”. Currently, the SADR is “recognized by more than 80 countries”-among them, the Peru– And it is “member of the African Union”.

7. Nagorno-Karabakh Republic

Armenian-majority Nagorno-Karabakh was made up of Stalinin 1921, to the “Soviet socialist republic of Azerbaijan with, as of 1923, a statute of autonomy”.

The AFP agency recalls that, in february 88began the ethnic conflicts that would lead to the separation of Nagorno-Karabakh. Independence was proclaimed on December 10, 1991.

Currently, there are still frictions between the two countries, but Russia has always presented itself as an intermediary.

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Source: Elcomercio