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The Taiwan-Somaliland Union Sparks All-Out Diplomatic Brawl

by Eric Olander

China and Somalia both turned up the volume of their anger about Monday’s opening of a new Taiwan representative office in the self-declared state of Somaliland.

After a subdued reaction on Monday following the inauguration of the new office in Hargeisa and only a mild statement issued on Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian yesterday unleashed the characteristically bombastic rhetoric that is often used to condemn Taiwan’s diplomatic initiatives:

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