Taiwan pulls medics from Malawi after ties cut

Taiwan has withdrawn medical staff and equipment from a 300-bed hospital it built in Malawi after the southern African country severed diplomatic ties in favour of China, health officials said on Wednesday.

Impoverished Malawi ended 41 years of relations with the island nation last week and established links with mainland China, which has emerged as a major economic power in Africa and regards Taiwan as a renegade breakaway province.

Local media reported that Malawi's government had given Taiwanese officials 30 days to leave the country.

The director of the Taiwanese built Mzuzu Central Hospital, the biggest government hospital in northern Malawi, said 19 staff had been withdrawn along with vital equipment needed to test for HIV/AIDS.

"The Taiwanese say that the equipment they have withdrawn was not yet handed over to us," director Rose Dzimadzi said.

Malawi's northern region has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in one of the world's worst affected countries. HIV/AIDS kills 10 people per hour in Malawi and has left over one million children orphaned.

Malawi's government said it decided to switch diplomatic ties to China because of the benefits it would be getting. Taipei had said it could not match a Chinese offer to give $6 billion in aid to Malawi, one of Africa's poorest countries.

China is still assessing which of Taiwan's projects in Malawi it will take over.

Taiwan has also withdrawn technical assistance from a college in the capital Lilongwe, forcing the education ministry to suspend some courses that were on offer.

The number of countries that recognise Taiwan has dwindled since the United States, once Taiwan's biggest backer, formally recognised China