Relations between China and Somalia

China and Somalia established diplomatic relations on December 14, 1960. At the end of 1990, the civil war in Somalia broke out, and the Chinese embassy, medical team and engineering and technical personnel in Somalia were forced to evacuate in January 1991. Since then, the Chinese Embassy in Kenya has taken charge of Somalia-related affairs. China has always supported and actively promoted the peace process in Somalia, and served as the UN Security Council coordinator in Somalia from 2003 to 2007. After the establishment of the Transitional Federal Government, the Chinese government recognized it and accepted the Ambassador to China appointed by the Transitional Federal Government on December 28, 2005. Since 1992, the Chinese government and the Red Cross have donated a certain amount of medicines and general supplies to the victims of the disaster each year. In August 2011, to help Somalia respond to drought, the Chinese government provided Somalia with 16 million US dollars in food aid cash. President of the Transitional Federal Government Yusuf (presented at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in November 2006), Foreign Minister Jama (presented at the Fourth Ministerial Conference of the “China-Arab Cooperation Forum” in May 2010), Fosia (August 2013) successively visited China. In August 2007, Zhang Ming, Chinese ambassador to Kenya, went to Mogadishu, the capital of Somalia, to attend the Somali National Reconciliation Conference and visit Somalia. In November 2012, Chinese Ambassador to Kenya Liu Guangyuan visited Somalia and met with President Mahmoud and other Somalia leaders. Both Somalia’s two transitional governments and the formal government established in 2012 attached great importance to relations with China, and reiterated the one-China stance many times, and are willing to further strengthen ties with the Chinese government and develop cooperation with China. On June 30, 2014, in order to further promote the development of friendly and cooperative relations between China and Somalia, the Chinese government decided to resume the embassy in Somalia and will send a re-embassy team to Somalia on July 1. The restoration team arrived in Mogadishu on July 2. From May 30 to 31, 2015, Liu Guijin, Special Envoy for China-Africa Cooperation Forum of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, visited Somalia. On June 24, 2015, the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s Office of the Chinese Embassy in Somalia officially opened its office.

Cooperation Process

At the end of 1990, the civil war in Somalia broke out. Because of this chaotic situation, many countries’ embassies in Somalia have been withdrawn, even China is no exception. However, unlike the United States, although China has withdrawn its ambassador, for 20 years, it has not given up its aid to this land. China has been helping Somalia to build infrastructure free of charge. This is simply good news for the Somali people who live in the flames. Also because of China’s selfless help, their perception of the Chinese has gradually changed, and the unhappiness caused by the withdrawal of the embassy has been bridged. The country sincerely thanks China for its help. Although the war in Somalia is fierce, its demand for manufactured products and daily necessities is still strong, and because of its poor consumption capacity, its expectations for Chinese products are even higher. Habib, the concierge officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Somalia, once said, “Everything is made in China, the world cannot be separated from China, and Somalia needs China!” Even Somali businessman Ali Gia, who has shipping branches in many cities around the world, Bo said: “China’s strong infrastructure construction capacity and manufacturing industry can well help the development of Somalia, which is awaiting development. Somalia needs China.” Until June 30, 2014, in order to further promote the development of friendly and cooperative relations between China and Somalia, China decided to resume

the embassy in Somalia, and sent a restoration team to Somalia on July 1. Perhaps it is precisely because of China’s help that chaos in Somalia is not hostile to China. Despite the extremely difficult situation in Somalia, there is likely to be hope for the country to emerge from the crisis in the near future. Somalia and Djibouti mentioned that other countries along the coast of the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean are very important to the Belt and Road Initiative and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road project. The Belt and Road Initiative is extremely important to China. It cannot be ruled out that this has forced China to take effective measures to restore Somalia’s economy and return the country to the path of peaceful development. In recent years, China has resumed its investment in Somalia and focused on the development of bilateral trade. In the five years from 2015 to 2019, China’s trade with Somalia has increased by more than 10% each year. China has become Somalia’s largest international trading partner. In 2006, the bilateral trade volume between China and Somalia was US$750 million, an increase of 14.9% year-on-year, of which Chinese exports were US$731 million, an increase of 14.95%, and imports were US$19 million, an increase of 13.06% (Maweu, 2016). Specific trade data are shown in Figure 3. Although compared with other countries, the total trade volume between the two sides is not large, but considering the years of war in Somalia, the cooperation between China and Somalia has now re-entered a good stage of sustainable development, and the trade structure has evolved from traditional single aid to Bilateral economic and trade cooperation, capacity cooperation, and industry docking; at the same time, Chinese companies have also begun to increase investment in engineering construction in Somalia. In 2019, our company signed a new project contract value of 29.71 million US dollars in Somalia. The strengthening of infrastructure will inevitably bring more cooperation in the economic and trade field, China will continue to maintain Somalia’s position as the largest trading partner and largest source of imports.

Imbalance in Trade between China and East Africa

 Since the establishment of the China-Africa Forum in 2000, China’s relations with African countries have developed well, and the absolute value of China’s net exports to East African countries has gradually decreased, and the trade balance between the two sides has gradually stabilized and is moving in a good direction. However, due to the impact of global economic integration and the financial crisis in recent years, the economic and trade cooperation between China and some countries in East Africa has experienced large fluctuations, which has caused the originally stable trade to start to become unbalanced. The main reason for this phenomenon is the impact of the structure of China’s and East