Taiwan moves to save relations with Malawi

Taiwan sent officials to Malawi and summoned its ambassador to save diplomatic relations amid reports arch-rival China was aggressively courting the southern African nation, a government spokeswoman said on Monday.

China, which has seen self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, wants to isolate the island internationally and pressure it into unification by making diplomatic allies switch ties to Beijing.

Taiwan's allies, which the island leadership sees as key to its legitimacy against China, have dwindled to 24, mostly small countries in poor regions, compared to China's 170.

The island's foreign ministry sent two officials to Malawi late last week and on Monday met with the nation's ambassador in Taipei because of news reports in the 13.6 million-population African country that two government ministers had visited China, foreign ministry spokeswoman Phoebe Yeh told a news conference.

One official was the energy minister, Yeh said, citing the news reports. China has been aggressively seeking partnerships in Africa in recent years to extract natural resources and meet energy needs at home.

Reports also said Malawi and China were poised to sign an agreement on establishing formal ties, which would effectively break 41 years of relations with Taiwan. Malawi had never had diplomatic relations with China before.

Malawi officials have reassured Taiwan, Yeh said.

"We will be paying close attention," she said. "China wants to win over Taiwan's diplomatic relations.

"Are there any resources in Malawi?" Yeh said. "You'd need to dig to find out. Resources in Africa are going to be finished off. This move is to destroy Taiwan's relations." (Reporting by Ralph Jennings; Editing by Jerry Norton)