China, Burkina Faso sign deal to establish diplomatic ties

China and Burkina Faso have signed an agreement to establish diplomatic ties, days after the West African nation cut ties with Taiwan considered by Beijing as part of the Chinese territory.

A communiqué on establishing relations was signed in Beijing on Saturday by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterpart Alpha Barry.

Burkina Faso broke off ties with Taiwan on Thursday, becoming the second country to do so within a month and leaving the self-ruled island with only 18 diplomatic allies around the world.

Saturday's move had been widely expected after Burkina Faso defected from Taiwan, which has steadily lost ground in a decades-long diplomatic tug-of-war with China in developing countries.

"Now Africa has only one country with which we have not yet established (relations)," Wang said in a speech afterward.

"We hope this country can join the big China-Africa family of friendship as soon as possible."

Taiwan can now claim only one ally in Africa, eSwatini, formerly known as Swaziland.

China and Taiwan split amid a civil war in 1949, but Beijing sees the island as a breakaway Chinese province that has to be brought back into the fold and has not ruled out reunification by force.

Relations between Taiwan and China have worsened since President Tsai Ing-wen took over in Taipei in 2016.

Beijing has raised the pressure on Tsai, whose government refuses to acknowledge that Taiwan is part of a "one China."

Burkina Faso was the fourth country to cut ties with Taipei since Tsai took office two years ago.

(Source: AFP)

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