Important Note: PolGeoNow does not take any position on whether Taiwan or Somaliland should be diplomatically recognized as independent countries, and does not take sides in the disputes they have with the governments of Somalia and China. During our visit to the Somaliland office in Taipei, we made clear to all parties that we were there strictly for neutral journalistic purposes. PolGeoNow has continued to report freely on developments both favorable and unfavorable to the self-declared Somaliland government in the time since our visit.
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| East Africa's self-proclaimed Republic of Somaliland has an embassy-like representative office in the East Asian city of Taipei, semi-official capital of Taiwan. Somaliland and Taiwan are not accepted as independent countries by the United Nations (UN) - but neither are they controlled by the UN member countries that claim them (Somalia and China respectively). |
All photos by PolGeoNow
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| Map modified by PolGeoNow from graphic by Wikimedia user Addicted04 (CC BY-SA) |
We reported on our 2022 visit soon afterwards with a thread on Twitter (now X)*, and today we're publishing this more complete account for future reference and historical interest.
*We're now also active on Mastodon, BlueSky, and Threads
What are Taiwan and Somaliland?
 Short Name (informal): • Taiwan (English) • ROC (English) • Táiwān (Mandarin Chinese) Official Name (in constitution): • Republic of China (English) • Zhōnghuá Mínguó (Mandarin Chinese) Other names used officially: • "Republic of China (Taiwan)" (government offices) • Chinese Taipei (compromise for international sports) • Taiwan, Province of China (used by UN without Taiwan's input) Capital: • Taipei (de facto) Claimed by: People's Republic of China |
Taiwan, made up of one large island and many small islands in East Asia, is claimed by the mainland People’s Republic of China. However, it's never been controlled by that government, instead falling under Japanese dominion from 1895 to 1945, and governed since 1945 under the constitution of a previous government of China, which moved to Taiwan after its army lost the Chinese Civil War in 1949.
Though the government in control of Taiwan still officially calls itself the “Republic of China”, most of its people consider Taiwan to be a separate country from the actual China. Its current government is friendly to that sentiment, but under threat of invasion from Mainland China, it chooses its words carefully. A few countries still treat the Taiwan-based government as independent, though under the name “Republic of China”.
Learn More: Which Countries "Recognize" Taiwan?
Somaliland, on the other hand, declared independence from the East African country of Somalia in 1991, claiming the right to revoke the area's 1960 merger with the rest of the territory claimed by Somalia. Somalia still insists that Somaliland is part of it, and no country in the world officially calls Somaliland independent, despite most of Somaliland’s claimed territory being outside the control of Somalia’s federal and state governments.
Claimed Country Name: • Somaliland (English, Somali) • Ṣūmālīlānd (Arabic) Full Declared Name: • Republic of Somaliland (English) • Jamhuriyadda Somaliland (Somali) • Jumhūrīyat Arḍ aṣ-Ṣūmāl (Arabic) Capital: Hargeisa Claimed by: Somalia |
The self-proclaimed Somaliland has made a reputation for itself as more peaceful, orderly, and democratic than the rest of the areas claimed by Somalia, though not without its share of controversy.
Learn More: Map of Who Controls What in Areas Claimed by Somalia and Somaliland
Taiwan-Somaliland Relations
Taiwan and Somaliland established embassy-like representative offices in each other's capitals in 2020, after more than a decade of informal contact. The reason these aren’t technically embassies is that neither side has formally "recognized" the other as an independent country, though they sometimes talk as if they do. This kind of “quasi-embassy” is common for both Taiwan and Somaliland, since many other countries want to maintain good communications with them even if not officially calling them independent.
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The Somaliland Representative Office in Taiwan
At the time of our visit, the Somaliland office occupied a third-floor residential flat in a quiet neighborhood of Taipei, near the outskirts of the city’s central capital district. It was visible from the street only by the Somaliland flag flying from its balcony. (The office has since moved to an outlying area of the city, near the quasi-embassy of the United States.)
Needless to say, the Somaliland office is best viewed from the inside. However, visits require an invitation. Lucky for us, PolGeoNow is known for our Somalia control maps, which include the area claimed by Somaliland, and they were interested in having a chat while we were in the area.
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Though there was no signage on the street, once we arrived on the third floor, the location was marked with a plaque-like sign hanging on the wall. The apartment's living room had been converted into a guest reception area, with comfortable seating, a large coffee table, and one wall set aside for photo ops with visitors. Connected to it was a kitchen/dining area that seemed to serve as a staff lounge. In an area connected to the living room and kitchen was the office secretary’s desk, and at the end of a short hallway was the official desk of Mohamed Hagi (pronounced “Haji”), Somaliland’s top diplomat in Taiwan at the time.
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| "Ambassador" Mohamed Hagi, head diplomat of the Republic of Somaliland Representative Office in Taiwan in 2022. The portrait behind him is of Muse Bihi Abdi, president of Somaliland at the time. |
We received a warm welcome from Mohamed*, who used the title “Ambassador” despite that word usually being reserved for the diplomat in charge of an official embassy. The Taiwan government, in contrast, referred to him as "Representative", suggesting that Somaliland was making a one-sided move to imply that Taiwan does consider it an independent country. On the other hand, Taiwan’s government doesn't seem to have made any public objection, despite declining to endorse the title. Mohamed's business card (see below) used a combination of the two titles in English, but avoided it in Mandarin Chinese, Taiwan's official language.
In addition to Mohamed, we were also greeted with smiles by Hassan M. Hussein, the office’s Head of Economic and and Commercial Affairs, and Viola Fu, a Taiwanese person serving as the office’s secretary, both of whom had helped in arranging our visit.
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| Mohamed's business card was bilingual: English on one side, with the other side in Mandarin Chinese, the official written language of Taiwan's government (written with "traditional characters"). Note that in English his form of address is shown as "Ambassador" but his full job title is listed as "Somaliland Representative to Taiwan". The Chinese version only calls him "Representative". |
The Somaliland Perspective
Mohamed sat down with us for a chat, focused largely on presenting us with the Somaliland's perspective on current events in East Africa. He came across as a true believer in his cause, enthusiastically asserting Somaliland’s independence, democratic credentials, and military strength relative to Somalia (and some other nearby countries). He argued that Somaliland not only deserves to be independent from Somalia, but also represents a principled rejection of “Greater Somalia” politics, in which some Somalis believe all culturally Somali-majority areas in East Africa - including large parts of Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti - should one day be part of a single country. However, he did openly acknowledge that no country officially recognizes Somaliland as independent, despite his “Ambassador” title.
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At a row of portraits of the self-proclaimed republic's five presidents up to the time of our visit, Mohamed proudly pointed out which ones were responsible for Somaliland’s transition to democracy two decades ago. Despite regular years-long election delays, persecution of journalists and political dissenters, and indiscriminate killing and destruction by its military amid a 2023 uprising in the east, Somaliland is still more democratic than most countries in the greater Horn of Africa region (Mohamed declared that it was Number 1).
Regardless of the Somaliland government's suppression of independent journalism within its borders, Mohamed made a point during our visit of respecting PolGeoNow's journalistic independence, telling us “You can report whatever you want” before launching into a polite criticism of PolGeoNow’s Somalia control maps.
Specifically, he complained that our maps make Somaliland look smaller than it should be. Because our maps are designed mainly to show on-the-ground territorial control rather than official borders, they mark a large area of would-be eastern Somaliland as “mixed, unclear, and/or local” rather than Somaliland control. This is backed up by years of reports describing the area as hosting a mix of military and government activity by both Somaliland and the neighboring Puntland state of Somalia, plus neutral or pro-Somalia militias. The maps also mark an area in the far northeast of Somaliland's claimed territory where Somalia's Al Qaeda-affiliated rebel group Al Shabaab is documented to have a major presence.
Understand: Al Shabaab's presence in Somaliland's claimed eastern regions
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Mohamed at first asserted that Somaliland was in control of its entire claimed territory, but eventually acknowledged that there was a roughly “60-kilometer buffer zone” within the self-declared republic’s claimed borders, which he said his government kept due to international diplomatic pressure. The year after our visit, Somaliland lost more territory after it was driven from most of the Sool region amid an uprising by an alliance of anti-independence militias seeking to set up a new federal state of Somalia called SSC-Khatumo.
Learn More: Somalia Map Report Covering the Height of the SSC-Khatumo Uprising
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Eswatini is the only remaining country in Africa that officially treats Taiwan's government as that of an independent country. (Borders shown here as recognized by the African Union and United Nations, which don't accept Somaliland's claims to independence.) Map derived from this blank map by Eric Gaba. License: CC BY-SA)
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As for Somaliland’s relations with Taiwan, Mohamed argued that Somaliland is especially valuable to the Taipei-based government because its unrecognized status meant it was the only country in Africa without any investment from China - except, that is, for tiny Eswatini (see map to left), the only country on the continent that still officially treats Taiwan’s government as independent.
Compared to Eswatini, Mohamed asserted that Somaliland was much more strategically valuable because it controlled hundreds of kilometers of coastline along the strategic Gulf of Aden (which all ships must pass through to transit between the Indian Ocean and Mediterranean Sea via the Suez Canal)
At the end of our chat, we were gifted some tea packets and Somaliland-branded face masks (this being only months after Taiwan ended its zero-COVID policy), and invited to pose for a group photo. A successful visit complete to one of the world’s more unusual political geography destinations!
Epilogue: The Somaliland Office in Taiwan 2022-2025
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| We were gifted Somaliland-branded surgical masks. Taiwan society is very pro-masking and our visit came during the winding-down of strict COVID-19 quarantine measures. |
As mentioned above, Somaliland has faced a major crisis since the end of 2022 with a major uprising against its rule in the eastern parts of its claimed territory, resulting in its loss of the southeastern region of Sool in August 2023, though the core and western regions remain solidly under its control. Mid-2023 also saw a public scandal for the Taipei office we visited, with a Taiwanese employee accusing the Somaliland staff of labor violations and sexual harassment. The office apparently escaped charges by claiming diplomatic immunity - the global principle that foreign diplomats can't be prosecuted by the countries hosting them.
In November 2024, Somaliland chose a new president in a long-delayed election, with the opposition candidate defeating incumbent Muse Bihi Abdi. The new president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi “Irro”, took office in December, amid speculation over whether his administration would continue relations with Taiwan. But in January 2025 he showed his commitment to keeping Somaliland’s Taiwan ties by appointing a new top diplomat to Taiwan to replace Mohamed Hagi at the office.
The new office head, Mahmoud Adam Jama Galaal, had previously criticized Somaliland’s relations with Taiwan, but now says he's since been convinced of their value by Taiwan’s “unparalleled assistance” to the self-proclaimed East African republic. Like his predecessor, he still uses the title “Ambassador”.
Mohamed Hagi received a Ph.D degree in 2023, and now goes by "Dr. Mohamed Hagi". According to his social media profile, he's still serving in the Somaliland government as a foreign affairs advisor to President Irro.
Keep up with changes to Somaliland's territorial control and diplomatic situation: PolGeoNow covers all this in our ongoing series of Somalia control map and timeline reports.
*We refer to Mohamed Hagi here as “Mohamed” based on our understanding that last names in Somali are not “family names”, and that people are normally referred to by their first names or nicknames even in professional contexts.
Graphics of the flags of self-proclaimed Somaliland (source), Somalia (source), and the "Republic of China" (Taiwan) (source) are in the public domain.
