Monrovia – Bilateral relations of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Liberia official relations began in 1977, but were broken on multiple occasions, only to be reformed later on.

Report by Lennart Dodoo – ldodoo@frontpageafricaonline.com

“Mr. Dweh’s collusion with Taiwan is the reprint of the previous “checkbook” diplomacy. This is intended to seek personal gains rather than the interest of the country.

As former Speaker of the House, who was a key player in the resolution should have complied with the law, instead of breaking the law just to satisfy his own interest above the Country’s” – Liberian Association of Chinese Trained Scholars

As of 2009, significant amounts of both investment and foreign aid came from China to Liberia.

The PRC broke off relations with Liberia on October 10, 1989 in response to Liberia’s recognition of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Taiwan had offered US$$200 million in aid to Liberia for education and infrastructure in exchange for this recognition.

The PRC reestablished relations with Liberia on August 10, 1993 and opened an embassy in Monrovia, making Liberia one of the few nations which established diplomatic ties to both the PRC and Taiwan.

In 1997, Charles Taylor’s government proclaimed to recognize “two Chinas” and the PRC subsequently severed diplomatic relations. In addition, following the transfer of sovereignty of Hong Kong, Liberia’s consulate, established during British rule, was forced to close.

Liberia dropped diplomatic relations with Tiawan on October 12, 2003 and reestablished ties with the People’s Republic of China. This move was seen largely as a result of the PRC’s lobbying in the UN and plans to deploy a peacekeeping force in Liberia.

From 2000 to 2011, there were approximately 68 Chinese official development finance projects identified in Liberia through various media reports.

These projects range from renovating and constructing the Fendell Campus for Engineering of the University of Liberia, to a US$10 million contract with the Government of Liberia for the construction of a 100 bedroom hospital in Nimba County in 2008.

In 2014, trade volume between our two countries exceeded US$4250 million, a 74% increase over the year before despite the Ebola strike. China continued to be one of Liberia’s top trading partners, as well as the biggest foreign investor and the top project contractor for Liberia.

The renovation of the Samuel K. Doe Sports Complex, construction of annexes at the Capitol, construction of Ministerial Complex and the recent ground breaking for the renovation of the Roberts Internal Airport are current projects being undertaken by China in Liberia.

George Dweh’s Game

Two separate communications in the possession of FrontPageAfrica dated August 19, 2016 under the letter head: Office of the former Speaker with a signature believed to be George Dweh’s addressed to the President of the Republic of Taiwan requesting the reestablishment of bilateral relations between Liberia and Taiwan averred among other things:

“Your excellency, what I am clearly indicating or driving at is that Taipei should not be intimidated by the presence of China’s diplomatic ties with Liberia or other West African States; then of course, Taiwan will automatically achieve her trade mission desire or objective.”

From the letter in our possession, it was noted that exchange of communications between Dweh and the Taiwanese began in June 2016 when he first made the request.

In an earlier response to Dweh, the President of Taiwan, Tsai Ingwen, through her Chief of Mission accredited to Nigeria, noted that Taiwan as a matter of policy could not establish diplomatic ties with countries whose leaders have similar ties with China.

However, Dweh through his August 19 communication to President Ingwen authoritatively reminded her that “Taiwan needs to decide exactly what she wants in terms of her foreign policy about the diplomatic and trade mission because no one individual has right to interfere into her national and international policy as well as making decision for Taipei concerning her trade mission.”

“In this background, Taiwan need to put into place a mechanism to touch the lives of Africans on a trade economic basis, most especially her presence as a country need to be felt in Liberia vis-à-vis-Africa as a whole by opening these business doors for Liberians to purchase quality but affordable goods of all kinds and also arrange a visa-free program for Liberia business people and citizens to have easy access to entering Taiwan,” the letter stated.

Dweh further advised Taiwan to arrange some direct fights that will transport Liberians and other nationalities to Taiwan under the trade mission to avoid passing through China if necessary.

China’s ‘Fake’ Goods

Dweh tied his argument around substandard Chinese product flooding the Liberian market, noting that such was creating economic hardship not only for Liberia but also the African continent where these products also go.

The Letter: “Your Excellency, you will agree with me that China is supplying a substandard mass production goods to Liberia and Africa in general that is creating economic problem because some of those goods life span is a little over 2-6 months or a year.

That’s why other African countries like Liberia are yearning for Taiwan to come and create a room for competition in accordance with the WTO business arrangement which does not need a monopoly.

“Your Excellency Madam President, Liberia really needs a country that will help its citizens after fifteen (15) years of devastating civil war to improve their livelihood in terms of socio-economic improvement of their lives.

Therefore, Taipei needs to come to Liberia to work side-by-side with the rest of the world including America, China and the EU countries.

“In conclusion, we have confidence and trust in Taiwan’s ability and capability based on some of the goods and services that we have seen in Ghanaian and Nigerian markets. That’s why it will be very much important to consider her trade mission to Liberia and other neighboring countries for her citizens and investors to travel and do business in Liberia and the Mano River Union countries.”

Did China Block Trade Link?

In a separate communication by the former Speaker to the Taiwanese Head of Mission accredited to Nigeria alleged that the Taiwanese Letter of Accreditation sent through offices of the Liberian Ambassador accredited to Nigeria requesting Economic Trade Link Mission between Liberia and Taiwan to promote mutual economic benefits had been blocked by China though said communication was in the offices of the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Chinese hindrance, according to Dweh, was for the Government of Liberia not to allow trade link between Liberia and Taiwan to be established.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) treaty signed by Liberia gives Liberia the right as a sovereign state to do business with any country of choice.

He further alleged that he held meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and her principal deputies concerning the issue.

“From where I sit with regard to the background investigation conducted, there is possibility of the mission being established because of my influence and contact at both the Liberian Parliament and within the Executive as a former Speaker of the House of Representatives,” he averred in his communication to the Taiwanese Head of Mission in Abuja, Nigeria.

Government of Liberia’s Response

In a reaction to the letters, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied ever holding meeting with Dweh over bilateral relations or the establishment of trade link with Taiwan.

The government in a statement said: “The government of Liberia takes this matter very seriously and, because of the gravity, has alerted the relevant security agencies to investigate the matter so as to avert a diplomatic faux pas with the friendly government of the People’s Republic of China as well as to determine his motivation for this dubious overture.

“The Government of Liberia reaffirms its commitment to the “One China Policy” and its support to China’s concept of “one country, two systems” and every effort by the Chinese Government to achieve national reunification.”

Liberian-Chinese Scholars React

While the Chinese Embassy in Monrovia is yet to comment on the issue, the Liberian Association of Chinese Trained Scholars (LACTS) in a statement said it takes serious exception to the communications written by former Speaker Dweh to the authorities of Taiwan, which according to them, was in total disregard of the One-China policy resolution signed into law by the National Transitional Legislative Assembly which Mr. Dweh ever served as Speaker.

“It beats our imagination to see the former Speaker who was part of the law making to be the one breaking the law. We are therefore calling on all Liberians to condemn this selfish act by Mr. Dweh which is tantamount to derailing the cordial relationship between Liberia and China….”

“Mr. Dweh’s collusion with Taiwan is the reprint of the previous ‘checkbook’ diplomacy. This is intended to seek personal gains rather than the interest of the country. As former Speaker of the House, who was a key player in the resolution should have complied with the law, instead of breaking the law just to satisfy his own interest above the Country’s.

 As John F. Kennedy said in his inaugural address in 1961 ‘ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country’.

We believe that such behavior by Mr. Dweh has the propensity to undermine the friendship between the two countries (China-Liberia relation),” they asserted.

Who Is George Dweh?

George Dweh is a Liberian politician who formerly operated in the LURD and the MODEL faction groups. He is also a cousin of the former president Samuel K. Doe who seized power in a 1980 coup.

Despite widespread resistance to his appointment amidst allegations of his involvement in numerous massacres, Dweh served as Speaker of the National Transitional Legislative Assembly of Liberia (NTLA) from October 2003 to 14 March 2005, when he was suspended from the body after being accused of financial mismanagement and corruption.

Monrovia – The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has been alerted about two separate communications (each dated August 19, 2016 respectively) signed by the former Speaker of the erstwhile Transitional Legislative Assembly, George Dweh, to authorities of the Republic of Taiwan suggesting bilateral discussions for the establishment of an economic trade link with the government of Liberia.

The government in a release said, Mr. Dweh who is a former government official and has never been an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor has he had any official relation with the Ministry has never been an envoy of Liberia.

The Liberian government made it clear that Mr. Dweh has never, at any time, held meetings with any official of the Foreign Ministry on any matter relating to the Republic of Taiwan.

“The government of Liberia takes this matter very seriously and, because of the gravity, has alerted the relevant security agencies to investigate the matter so as to avert a diplomatic faux pas with the friendly government of the People’s Republic of China as well as to determine his motivation for this dubious overture.

“The Government of Liberia reaffirms its commitment to the “One China Policy” and its support to China’s concept of “one country, two systems” and every effort by the Chinese Government to achieve national reunification,” the statement read.

Monrovia – Months after being declared free of the deadly Ebola virus outbreak, Liberia, one of the West African nations hit hard by the deadly Ebola virus outbreak continues to suffer stigma.

Travel Warning Declaration Triggers Resurrection Of Ebola Stigma Fears

Citing possibilities that the virus could resurface in Liberia, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) last Friday issued a yellow travel alert for Ghana, which it says is a possible target for terrorist attacks, while issuing an orange travel alert for Liberia and Sierra Leone amid signs of Ebola cases reemerging there.

Under the MOFA’s four-color travel advisory system, the lowest warning level is gray, followed by yellow, then orange and finally red. A red alert is the highest warning level and advises people to refrain from traveling to the region in question.

The ministry said Ghana has been listed as one of the targets for the next terrorist attack, according to Mali terrorists caught by Ivory Coast authorities.

As for Liberia and Sierra Leone, the ministry said the Ebola outbreak, which had been under control until March, showed signs of resurging.

The travel advisory comes just days after a report by an international team of scientists in the journal Science Advances documented that declining genetic divergence in the flare-up strains, were perhaps due to diminished evolutionary rates in individuals with persistent infection.

According to the scientists, the sequence data supported the notion that the flare-ups involved strains related to those in the main outbreak, ruling out re-introduction from a reservoir animal or transmission of distinct strains from active infections elsewhere.

According to the report, researchers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Protection, the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, Liberia’s Ministry of Health, and elsewhere analyzed genomic and epidemiologic data from seven individuals with confirmed Ebola infections to investigate an Ebola virus flare up in Liberia in June 2015 — the second re-emergence of the virus after the broader Ebola outbreak ended in that country.

The findings highlight the potential risk of re-introduction due to Ebola virus persistence in some individuals who survived the disease, highlighting the importance of enhanced surveillance, survivor services, and access to resources for responding to flare-ups, Christie, Ebola response lead for CDC in Liberia, told GenomeWeb in an e-mail.

“[T]his second flare-up, like the first, originated from a persistently infected source within Liberia,” co-senior authors USAMRIID’s Gustavo Palacios, the CDC Athalia Christie, and Ministry of Health researcher Tolbert Nyenswah, and their colleagues wrote.

They also noted that the new Ebola genomes “were characterized by significantly low levels of genetic divergence compared to other viral genomes sequenced from samples collected from infected persons in Liberia during the epidemic.”

It is highly likely that Taiwan based its travel advisory warning on Liberia and Sierra Leone due to the recent warnings which suggest that the two countries at the center of the outbreak should maintain high levels of vigilance for longer than thought to contain any future flare-ups of the deadly haemorrhagic fever.

World Health Organization data show West Africa’s Ebola epidemic killed more than 11,300 people and infected some 28,600 as it swept through Guinea, Sierra Leone and Liberia from 2013 in the world’s worst outbreak of the disease.

Each of the three countries has experienced brief flare-ups since being declared Ebola free, including three isolated clusters of Ebola cases in Liberia.

The second flare-up, which included seven confirmed cases, centered on a village in Margibi County, a rural area near the capital Monrovia. To find out more about what triggered it, researchers led by David Blackley of the U.S. Centres for Diseases Prevention and Control isolated and sequenced viral genomes from infected patients.

The scientists found a striking amount of genetic similarity with other Ebola sequences from West Africa, indicating the flare-up “was a continuation of the outbreak that began in 2013, and was not caused by an additional spillover event from an unknown, non-human reservoir”.

Further analysis, according to the report, suggested this cluster was sparked by “a persistent, sub-clinical infection” in a woman who had previously had Ebola infection with clear symptoms, but and appeared to recover.

It remains unclear how Ebola virus is able to lay dormant in an infected host, but the scientists noted that the virus may replicate more slowly and persist in immune-privileged sites, such as the eye and testes, long after the acute, symptomatic phase of disease has occurred.

It is also unclear whether other countries could follow suit and begin stigmatizing travelers from Liberia over fears of Ebola

At the height of the epidemic, several airlines abruptly cut of service to Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea and most countries stop granting visas to Liberians.