Written by | Dong Xin
Last night, news of Burkina Faso "breaking diplomatic relations" with Taiwan came.
For a moment, the office friends were a little unlucky:
"What's Buki?" "What's wrong with Buki?" "Where did you?"
For most people, this name is a bit difficult to pronounce and the unfamiliarity of West Africa countries is not a little bit unfamiliar.
In order to make everyone understand better, Zheng Zhidao (WeChat ID:ubolitics) spent a day digging in depth.
GDP is less than Taobao's sales in one night
Burkina Faso is an ancient civilization in West Africa and one of the latest countries born in Africa. It was founded in the 9th century AD, but became a French colony in 1904 and did not leave France's colonial rule until 1960.
"Burkina" is taken from the national language of the country, Morey, which means "land of dignity". "Faso" means "country" in the Diurah dialect of the country.
In Burkina Faso, some families practice polygamy. The husbands work outside every day, and the wives contract the family's farm work and small business.
In 2014, a Global Times reporter went to Burkina Faso to visit and found that in the capital of the country, Ouagadougou, many people do not have the habit of chaining doors at night.
But "no door closed at night" may be because they have nothing to steal.
Burkina Faso has a weak industrial foundation and relatively poor resources. The economy is mainly agriculture and animal husbandry. Cotton is the main cash crop and export-enhancing products. The official currency is the African Financial Community Franc, referred to as West African Franc . At today's exchange rate, 1 West African franc is almost 0.00178 US dollars.
Bank is one of the least developed countries announced by the United Nations. How underdeveloped is it? In 2017, Burkina Faso's GDP was US$13.6 billion and per capita GDP was US$730.
Zhengdao (WeChat ID:ubolitics) has a very intuitive comparison.
On the day of "Double 11" last year, the total transaction volume of Tmall and Taobao platforms was 168.2 billion yuan. According to today's exchange rate, it was almost US$26.3 billion, which is basically twice the GDP of Burkina Faso last year.
Although the economy is underdeveloped, the Burkina Faso people have always been known for their hard work. They are the main exporters of foreign labor in neighboring African countries.
Coup has become a "convention"
In addition to being "underdeveloped" and "hardworking", "coup" is also a keyword in Burkina Faso.
Since its independence was declared in 1960, Burkina Faso has experienced eight regime changes, and seven of them have been achieved through military coups.
In 1966, the army launched a coup and took over the regime, and Chief of Staff of the Army Ramizana became president.
In November 1980, Colonel Sayer Zebo launched a coup and came to power, serving as chairman of the Military Commission and head of state.
In November 1982, Major Jean-Baptiste Vederaogo and Captain Sankara jointly launched a coup. Vederaogo served as chairman and head of state of the "Interim Commission for Saving the People", and Sankara was the Prime Minister.
In August 1983, Sankara launched a coup and served as chairman of the National Revolutionary Committee and head of state.
In October 1987, Minister of State and Attorney General Combore launched a coup, dissolved the National Revolutionary Committee, established the People's Front, and served as the chairman of the People's Front, head of state and head of government.
In October 2014, Burkina Faso President Compore, who had been in power for 27 years, planned to pass a parliamentary constitutional amendment to extend his term, which triggered large-scale anti-government demonstrations in the country. Compore was forced to step down and go into exile to Côte d'Ivoire. Michelle Kafando is elected by all parties as the transitional president, and Zida, former deputy commander of the Presidential Guard, serves as the Prime Minister of the Transitional Government.
In September 2015, former President Compore's confidant and brigadier general Gilbert Deandre announced a coup, establishing the "National Democracy Committee", the highest national authority, and serving as chairman himself. However, after the Economic Community of West African States (Communistry of West Europe) intervened in mediation, Kafando quickly regained state power.
△On October 31, 2014, people from Burkina Faso demonstrated, demanding that President Compode quit
Burkina Faso’s current president is Rock Mark Christian Cabore. The president, with a complicated name, was sworn in on November 29, 2015.
△Incumbent President
0 billion US dollars of a fantasy
0 billion US dollars of a fantasy On July 24, 2014, the AH5017 passenger plane of Algerian Airlines took off from Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, and lost contact 50 minutes later. Later that day, Algeria confirmed that the passenger plane had crashed in Mali, with 110 passengers and 6 crew members on the crashed passenger plane, and no one survived.
The crash at that time turned Burkina Faso, an "unknown" African country, into the focus of world attention.
But for Zheng Know (WeChat ID:ubolitics) and most domestic people, Burkina Faso has come into sight after entering the "50 billion US dollar incident" more than a year ago.
△Women and children in Burkina Faso, taken on February 16, 2018
In January 2017, after Sao Tome and Principe "severe diplomatic relations" with Taiwan, Burkina Faso's Foreign Minister Alpha Barry said in an interview with the media that someone had proposed to exchange US$50 billion for Burkina Faso to establish diplomatic relations with the mainland, but they refused, saying that they would not "betray" Taiwan for money.
"50 billion US dollars" is a very eye-catching number. After all, Burkina Faso's GDP in 2016 was US$11.6 billion, and US$50 billion is almost equivalent to their four years of income.
However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hua Chunying responded to the matter at that time, "I think this is simply a fantasy."
Chinese in Burma
There has never been a shortage of Chinese people on the land of Africa, and Burkina Faso is no exception.
In 2009, Guo Lin, a graduate of the China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), went to Africa to sell gold-rushing machinery in a store in Ghana.
West Africa produces a lot of gold, and it has a lot of demand for China's more advanced gold-pushing machinery and equipment. Ghana ranks first in gold products, and Chinese businessmen have also poured in a large number of them, and the market competition is extremely fierce. However, Burkina Faso, which ranks second in product, has few Chinese people, and Guo Lin sees the huge market potential there.
Soon, he and others jointly established the first gold-pushing machinery agency opened by mainland Chinese in Burkina Faso. The company earned $10,000 on the first day of its opening. Since then, Guo Lin founded another company, which achieved sales of nearly 5 million yuan in half a year and net profit of more than 1 million yuan.
Scholar Tiff Khan Mohammed conducted field interviews and inspections of Chinese and Bundesliga entrepreneurs in Burkina Faso from 2010 to 2011. According to his research, there were about 600 Chinese immigrants in Burkina at that time, most of them were private owners.
In Xinhua News Agency's 2014 report, this number is more accurate. Chen Xiujie, a Wenzhou businessman in the center of Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, told reporters that about 300 Chinese businessmen are doing business in the large market, mainly from Zhejiang, Fujian and Hunan.
△Ouagadougou Street, photographed in October 2017
More than ten years ago, when Chen Xiujie first arrived in Africa to do business, every container arrived and the goods were quickly sold out. Now, China has sufficient supply, local merchants have broadened their purchase channels, and the number of Chinese merchants has increased, business competition has been significantly strengthened.
According to data from the official website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China now mainly exports electromechanical products and imports cotton to Burkina Faso.
In 2017, China-Russia trade volume was approximately US$200 million, an increase of 31.1% year-on-year, of which China's export volume was US$180 million, an increase of 29.6% year-on-year, and import volume was US$20 million, an increase of 46% year-on-year.
Burkina Faso and Taiwan
Once upon a time, there were still many interactions between Taiwan and Burkina Faso.
Ma Ying-jeou has been there twice.
In 2012, Ma Ying-jeou went to Burkina Faso for the first time when he set foot on the African continent. Then-President Compore led officials to greet him with military salutes.The two held a joint press conference at the airport. Ma Ying-jeou introduced that the trip was to strengthen the cooperation between the two sides in all aspects, and Compore thanked Taiwan for its assistance to Bruno in economic and health infrastructure.
The second time I went there was in 2014. During Ma Ying-jeou's tenure, he visited Bundesliga again and stayed for only five hours. As soon as he got off the plane, he gave Compore a big hug, and the welcome team also sang "The Girl in Alishan".
When Tsai Ing-wen's tenure, the exchanges continued.
In May 2016, the Prime Minister of Burkina Faso led a delegation to attend Tsai Ing-wen's inauguration ceremony and presented gifts; in September 2016, Taiwan's "Second Minister of Foreign Affairs" visited Burkina Faso and promised to provide 47 million US dollars in aid to Burkina Faso in the next two years, covering agriculture, education, national defense and other fields.
△Prime Minister of Burkina Faso and Tsai Ing-wen
In June 2017, Taiwan also donated 2 Taiwan Army’s “UH-1H” multi-purpose helicopters to Burkina Faso.
To put it more, "UH-1H" was the most famous helicopter of the US military during the Vietnam War. Now it has basically lost the value of prolonging life and continuing to serve, and the body condition has also aged severely. Taiwan gave it to the country after renovating the old aircraft.
This time, although the news of Burkina Faso's "breaking diplomatic relations" was sudden, it was not without traces.
Taiwan media found two signals. One was that in April this year, Tsai Ing-wen "visited" in Africa. The president of Burkina Faso had long refused Tsai Ing-wen's visit on the grounds that there were other things; the second was that at the World Health Assembly held this week, Burkina Faso, as a "friendly institution", did not speak for the Taiwan side, but just proposed it. Will
establish diplomatic relations with China?
Let’s explain the background first. When Burkina Faso was founded in 1960, its country was named "Upper Walter Republic", and it was named after it was in the upper reaches of the Walter River in western Africa. After the founding of the Republic of Walter, then Chinese Foreign Minister Chen Yi called President of the Republic of Walter Morris Yameogo and recognized the Republic of Walter.
However, the two countries did not establish diplomatic relations. In 1961, the then Upper Walter Republic "established diplomatic relations" with Taiwan. It was not until September 1973 that the Upper Walter Republic established diplomatic relations with China and "severed diplomatic relations" with Taiwan for the first time.
During the period when the two countries maintained diplomatic relations, then Chinese Commerce Minister Fang Yi, then Chinese Minister of Geology and Mineral Engineering Zhu Xun, then member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, Li Ruihuan, then member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, had visited the Upper Walter Republic. China also assisted in building hospitals, government office buildings, stadiums and other projects, accepted 23 international students in Burma, and sent 9 medical teams to Burma, totaling 163 people.
On August 4, 1984, the Upper Walter Republic was renamed "Burkina Faso".
On February 2, 1994, Burkina Faso signed a communiqué for the "resumption of diplomatic relations" with Taiwan. Two days later, on February 4, the Chinese government announced the suspension of diplomatic relations with Burkina Faso.
In view of the fact that several countries had "established diplomatic relations" with China after "severely cut off diplomatic relations" with Taiwan, everyone's focus has begun to be on whether China-Brazil diplomatic relations can be restored.
This afternoon (25th), Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said this:
"I don't think everyone should be surprised to establish diplomatic relations with China," as to whether China will provide assistance or preferential loans to the Burkina Faso government, Lu Kang said that China is willing to carry out mutually beneficial cooperation on the basis of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit.
"Everyone knows that China and African countries have a China-Africa Cooperation Forum. Under this framework, China and Africa have carried out a lot of mutually beneficial cooperation. If one day, China and Burkina Faso also establish diplomatic relations and can carry out mutually beneficial cooperation under this framework, I believe that this is beneficial to both sides."
Information | Xinhua News Agency, China Youth Daily , Phoenix TV , Observer Network, Phoenix TV and other
Proofreading | Li Zhe
