Mohamed Omar Hagi Mohamoud, Somaliland’s first Representative to Taiwan, has arrived in Taipei to begin his tour of duty.
Mohamoud arrived in Taiwan on Friday.
On Sunday, Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu, welcomed him officially to the country.
Wu posted his pleasure at Mohamoud’s arrival on Twitter. He said, “Mohamoud and Somaliland withstood a lot of pressure from Beijing to take up the new post in Taipei.”
In his tweet, Wu also stated that Somaliland’s stand on the issue proves that neither “sovereignty nor friendship are for sale.”
Wu’s tweet was in reference to the recent reports by the media in Somaliland that President Muse Bihi Abdi had rejected China’s pressure to cut off diplomatic ties with Taiwan.
Early last month, Taiwan and its East African ally promised to send representative offices in each other’s territories to strengthen diplomatic relations between them.
Taiwan expects to open its representative office in Hargeisa either later this month or in September.
It has already appointed Lou Chen-hwa as the Taiwan Representative to Somaliland. Currently, Chen-hwa is a counselor at his country’s representative office in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.