 | |
 Saudi Arabia |  Taiwan |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic mission | |
| Saudi Arabian Trade Office in Taipei | Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in Saudi Arabia |
| Envoy | |
| Representative Adel Fahad A. Althaidi | Representative Teng, Sheng-Ping |
Saudi Arabia and the Republic of China (ROC) have had a long relationship with deep diplomatic, military, and commercial elements. Relations formally existed until 1990 after which Saudi Arabia recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC).
After World War II, the Republic of China maintained diplomatic relations with only a few Middle Eastern countries, one of which was Saudi Arabia. The Republic of China lost control of the mainland and decamped to the island of Taiwan, formerly a Qing region that was then under colonial rule by the Empire of Japan until 1945 when it was acquired by the ROC.
The Hui Muslim General Ma Bufang was appointed as the first Republic of China ambassador to Saudi Arabia. This was for two reasons. The first reason was largely out of economic necessity, as Saudi Arabia was the largest supplier of oil to the ROC, with Taiwan's state-run Chinese Petroleum Company, importing about 40% of its oil annually from Saudi Arabia. [1]
As Nationalist China was so reliant on Saudi Arabia's oil supplies, the ROC put a significant amount of effort into maintaining relations. The second reason for the friendliness of the Chinese Nationalist government towards Saudi Arabia was because since 1949, Saudi Arabia was one of the most influential countries to recognize the Chinese Nationalist regime on Taiwan, even after it lost its seat on the UN Security Council in 1971. Citing respect for Islamic religion was another. [2] Saudi Arabia was the only Arab country which voted against the PRC taking over the ROC's seat at the UN. Both countries were in the anti-communist camp. [3]
The first state visit of the post-Chiang Kai-shek era was a 1977 visit by President Yen Chia-kan to Saudi Arabia. [3]
Saudi Arabia ended its recognition of the Republic of China in July 1990, when it established official diplomatic relations with China (People's Republic of China). [4] [ better source needed ]
From 1979 to 1990, the Republic of China Armed Forces engaged in a classified military aid program in the Yemen Arab Republic known as the Peace Bell Program or the Great Desert Program (大漠計畫) at the behest of Saudi Arabia. The Taiwanese piloted Yemeni F-5s and manned air defense batteries against a South Yemeni force composed of Cuban and Soviet personnel. The program ended in 1990 when Saudi Arabia withdrew its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. [5] The ROCAF force were actively involved in combat with the Cubans/Soviets [6] and for all intents and purposes constitutes the Yemen Arab Republic's Air Force during this time. Taiwanese pilots scored a number of kills and the air-defense and early warning radar teams took casualties from aerial attacks. [7]
Commercial relations between Taiwan and Saudi Arabia began around 1965 and were initially based on an agricultural relationship. As a way to demonstrate rice cultivation, Taiwan sent agricultural missions to Saudi Arabia. Then, in 1973, the two countries signed an agricultural cooperation agreement, in which Taiwan provided Saudi Arabia with a number of assistance programs, including irrigation, mechanized cultivation, soil, meteorology, crop rotation, and fishing technology. In 1978, Taiwan also began providing technical assistance in the field of health care. Taiwan has even provided Saudi Arabia with a number of doctors and nurses. [1]
Taiwan also provided significant technical assistance to Saudi Arabia. In 1973, Taiwan's largest heavy construction company, Ret-Ser Engineering Agency (RSEA), began working on the 110-kilometer Mecca to Hawiya highway in Saudi Arabia. [8] This led to other large projects like the Shaar highway. [9] Other projects included the construction of an industrial park and sewage system, offshore and onshore work in the Saudi Naval Expansion Program, and housing for the King Abd al-Aziz Military Academy and King Khalid Military City. As of 1984, RSEA's projects in Taiwan amounted to a total dollar value of $1.3 billion. The majority of trade between the two nations consisted of petroleum from Saudi Arabia and building materials and consumer goods from Taiwan, [2] and potentially by the granting of Saudi Arabia on Research and Development of Renewable Energy. [10]
In 2020, Taiwan signed a double taxation avoidance agreement with Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia became the first Arab nation to have such an agreement with Taiwan and took effect on January 1, 2021. [11]
In 1957, the ROC consulate in Jeddah was upgraded to an embassy. Saudi Arabia opened an embassy in Taiwan in 1968, before that relations had been handled through the Saudi embassy in Japan. [3]
Saudi Arabia is represented in Taipei by a representative office known as the Saudi Arabian Trade Office in Taipei. [12] Similarly, Taiwan maintains a Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. [13] On 27 July 2017, Taiwan suspended its representative office in Jeddah and the task of the office was given to the Riyadh office. [14]
The Republic of China (ROC), commonly known as Taiwan, has full diplomatic relations with 13 of the 193 United Nations member states and with the Holy See. In addition to these relations, the ROC also maintains unofficial relations with 58 UN member states, one self-declared state (Somaliland), three territories, and the European Union via its representative offices and consulates under the One China principle. Taiwan has the 31st largest diplomatic network in the world with 110 offices.
The United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 was passed in response to the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 1668 that required any change in China's representation in the UN be determined by a two-thirds vote referring to Article 18 of the UN Charter. The resolution, passed on 25 October 1971, recognized the People's Republic of China (PRC) as "the only legitimate representative of China to the United Nations" and removed "the representatives of Chiang Kai-shek" from the United Nations.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), also known as Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), Taipei Representative Office (TRO) or Taipei Mission, is an alternative diplomatic institution serving as a de facto embassy or a consulate of the Republic of China to exercise the foreign affairs and consular services in specific countries which have established formal diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China. As the PRC denies the legitimacy of the ROC as a sovereign state and claims the ROC-controlled territories as an integral part of its China. An exclusive mandate namely One-China policy, mandates any country that wishes to establish a diplomatic relationship with the PRC must first sever any formal relationship with the ROC. According to The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs, "non-recognition of the Taiwanese government is a prerequisite for conducting formal diplomatic relations with the PRC—in effect forcing other governments to choose between Beijing and Taipei." As a result, these countries only allow the ROC to establish representative offices instead of a fully-fledged embassy or consulate for the purpose of conducting practical bilateral relations without granting full diplomatic recognition.
The Canadian Trade Office in Taipei is Canada's trade office in Taiwan, which functions as a de facto embassy in the absence of official diplomatic relations in which Canada recognized the People's Republic of China in October 1970 in accordance with the one-China policy. The current Executive Director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei is Jordan Reeves.
The term "Two Chinas" refers to the geopolitical situation where two political entities exist under the name "China".
The Republic of China government recognized the formation of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea on April 13, 1919, as one of the participants of the Cairo Conference, which resulted in the Cairo Declaration. One of the main purposes of the Cairo Declaration was to create an independent Korea, free from Japanese colonial rule. Bilateral diplomatic relations between the Government of the Republic of Korea and the Republic of China began in 1948, just after the foundation of the First Republic, hence making China, the first country to recognize the Republic of Korea as the sole legitimate government of Korea. After the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Republic of Korea maintained relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan), which the island of Taiwan was also formerly under Japanese rule.
The bilateral relationship between Taiwan and the United States of America are the subject of the Japan-U.S. relations during Japanese colonial rule and China-U.S.relations before the government of the Republic of China (ROC) led by the Kuomintang retreated to Taiwan and its neighboring islands as a result of the Chinese Civil War and until the U.S. ceased recognizing the ROC in 1979 as "China" as a result of the One China policy following the Joint Communiqué on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations under the Carter administration. Prior to relations with the ROC, the United States had diplomatic relations with the Qing dynasty beginning on June 16, 1844 until 1912.
China–Saudi Arabia relations refers to the current and historical bilateral relationship between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The first China-Saudi official meeting took place in Oman in November 1985, following several years of heightened contact between the two countries. The two governments established official diplomatic relations on 21 July 1990. Prior to the 1990s, bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the PRC did not exist. In 1975, Saudi Arabia refused to recognize the PRC as a country, despite the PRC's desire to establish relations and acceptance of Saudi Arabian policies. It is said that "oil is the backbone of the relationship", while Saudi Arabia has long relied on China for arms sales, including weapons the former could not acquire from anywhere.
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; represents the interests of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Saudi Arabia in the absence of formal diplomatic relations, functioning as a de facto embassy. In addition, it has responsibility for Taiwan's relations with Afghanistan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Qatar and Sudan.
The Saudi Arabian Trade Office in Taipei represents the interests of Saudi Arabia in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic relations, functioning as a de facto embassy.
Saudi Arabia–Spain relations are the bilateral and diplomatic relations between these two countries. Saudi Arabia has an embassy in Madrid and a consulate general in Málaga. Spain has an embassy in Riyadh.
The Republic of China (ROC) and Lithuania established diplomatic relations in 1921, three years after Lithuania's declaration of independence in 1918. The relations continued until the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states in 1940. The ROC did not recognise the Soviet annexation of Lithuania. The ROC lost the vast majority of its territory, namely mainland China, to the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, and it has been limited to the island of Taiwan, formerly a Japanese colony and minor associated islands since the 1950s. Democratic Lithuania and modern-day ROC established unofficial diplomatic relations in 2021, thirty-one years after the restoration of Lithuania's independence in 1990.
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