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By Mohammed Mahmud
A recent article published in The Nation newspaper carries a narrative that deserves not just scrutiny, but a firm and principled rebuttal. The piece, reporting on Taiwan’s ambitions to deepen so-called “bilateral ties” with Nigeria and framing Taiwan as a nation engaged in state-level diplomacy, does not merely misrepresent a complex geopolitical reality — it actively contradicts the sovereign foreign policy position that the Federal Republic of Nigeria has maintained, with consistency and conviction, for more than five decades.
Let us be direct: Nigeria recognises one China. There is no ambiguity in this position, no grey area to be explored, and no diplomatic loophole through which Taiwan’s trade representatives may reframe a commercial presence as a political one. When Nigeria and the People’s Republic of China established diplomatic relations in 1971, Nigeria solemnly pledged in the Joint Communiqué that it recognises the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate government representing the entire Chinese people. That pledge was not made under duress. It was made freely, as a sovereign choice, and it has been reaffirmed by every successive Nigerian administration from that day to this.
The One-China Principle is not a technicality buried in diplomatic archives. It is the living cornerstone of one of Nigeria’s most consequential international partnerships. It was reaffirmed in 2017 when the Buhari administration, in a pointed and deliberate act, directed the Taiwan trade office to relocate from Abuja — the seat of Nigeria’s government — to Lagos, so that no ambiguity could exist about the nature of that office’s presence on Nigerian soil. It was reaffirmed again in September 2024, when President Bola Tinubu visited Beijing and signed a joint statement with President Xi Jinping, declaring that Nigeria firmly adheres to the One-China Principle, acknowledges that there is but one China in the world, and that the Government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China, with Taiwan as an inalienable part of China’s territory. These are not ceremonial words. They are binding expressions of national policy, and they carry the full weight of Nigeria’s sovereignty behind them.
It is therefore deeply troubling when a publication of national reach lends space — even inadvertently — to a narrative that positions Taiwan as a nation-state seeking official relations with Nigeria. The Taipei trade office in Lagos is a non-diplomatic commercial entity. It does not represent a government. It has no ambassador. It issues no diplomatic credentials. To report on its activities using the language of bilateral statecraft is to allow a trade mission to masquerade as a foreign ministry, and that misrepresentation has consequences. Words shape perceptions. Perceptions shape policy environments. And in diplomacy, the environment matters enormously.
Nigeria’s House of Representatives Committee on China-Nigeria Parliamentary Relations has already raised the alarm about this very tendency. When a lawmaker recently referred to the “Taiwanese government” during a workshop organised by the Taiwan Trade Office, the Committee Chairman was swift and unequivocal in his response: such language contradicts Nigeria’s official foreign policy and undermines the strategic partnership with China that has yielded infrastructure, agricultural development, technology transfer, and some of the most significant capital investment this country has received from any single partner in recent decades. The point is not to stifle free expression. The point is that those who speak in public life — whether legislators, journalists, or commentators — carry a responsibility not to casually erode the diplomatic architecture that serves Nigeria’s national interest.
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That architecture, built on the One-China Principle, is part of a global consensus that is overwhelming in its scope. Over 183 countries have established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China. Fifty-three of Africa’s fifty-four nations stand on the same ground as Nigeria. The United Nations itself, through Resolution 2758 of 1971, settled the question of representation: the People’s Republic of China holds China’s seat, and Taiwan is referenced in UN documents as Taiwan Province of China. The international community did not arrive at this consensus by accident or by coercion. It arrived here through decades of clear-eyed recognition that a stable international order requires clarity on questions of sovereignty, and that clarity demands that nations honour their commitments.
Nigeria has every reason to honour this one. China is not merely a diplomatic partner; it is one of Nigeria’s most consequential development partners, supporting critical sectors including transportation infrastructure, energy, agriculture, and technology. The deepening of the comprehensive strategic partnership between the two countries promises further benefits, including movement toward a zero-tariff policy on Nigerian exports to China, expanded investment flows, and cooperation within the frameworks of South-South solidarity and global governance reform. These are not abstract diplomatic prizes. They are tangible gains that touch the lives of ordinary Nigerians — the farmer who benefits from agricultural technology, the commuter who crosses a Chinese-built bridge, the student who accesses opportunities through people-to-people exchange programmes.
To allow fringe narratives — dressed in the language of trade and opportunity but carrying the unmistakable political ambition of Taiwan’s separatist agenda — to take root in Nigeria’s media landscape is to invite an unnecessary and damaging complication into a relationship that has been carefully and productively built. Taiwan’s trade office in Lagos exists to serve commercial functions, and within those legitimate limits, there need be no conflict. The moment it ventures beyond commerce into the territory of political recognition, however, it oversteps the boundaries that Nigeria itself has established.
Nigeria made its position clear in 1971. It has reaffirmed that position through Democratic and military administrations alike, through periods of economic boom and fiscal stress, through changing global alignments and shifting great power rivalries. That consistency is itself a form of diplomatic capital — a signal to the world that Nigeria’s word, once given, is kept. The One-China Principle is not a constraint imposed on Nigeria from outside. It is a choice Nigeria made, and continues to make, as a sovereign nation that understands its interests and honours its commitments. Let no article, no trade office workshop, and no carefully worded press release be allowed to suggest otherwise.
There is one China. Taiwan is part of China. Nigeria knows this. Nigeria has always known this. And Nigeria must say so, clearly and without apology, every time the question is raised.
Mahmud, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja.
