NAIROBI, Kenya — Taiwan is accusing Kenya of committing human rights abuses against Taiwanese nationals who traveled to Mombasa for a global oceans conference, and is pointing the finger at China for pressuring the East African nation into taking action.
According to Taiwan’s foreign ministry, the scholars had their passports and mobile phones taken away and were held in detention for more than 20 hours before ultimately being expelled from the country.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei released a statement saying it “strongly protests and condemns China’s pressure on the Kenyan government to refuse Taiwanese scholars’ attendance at the international ocean academic exchange conference, as well as the barbaric acts of confiscating passports, mobile phones, and restricting personal and communication freedoms — actions that violate human rights and international norms.”
Kenya, however, stood by its decision to remove the Taiwanese nationals. The country’s Foreign Ministry Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei stated that Kenya’s foreign policy “recognizes only one China.”
Sing’oei went on to say, “Any person purporting to hold a Taiwanese passport would ordinarily not be allowed through our borders for lacking proper documentation and would not in any event be part of a formal state meeting convened by Kenya government.”
Kenya is currently hosting the annual oceans conference, an event centered on tackling pressing ocean-related challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution.
The conference has drawn hundreds of delegates from across Africa, the United States, the European Union, and climate-vulnerable nations in the Caribbean and Pacific islands. Event organizers have worked to highlight Africa’s role — as the first-ever host of the gathering — as a leading voice in global ocean governance.
The tension between Taiwan and China stretches back to 1949, when the two sides split following a civil war. For decades, China has maintained that Taiwan is part of its territory and has insisted the island must eventually come under its authority, by force if necessary.
