Taiwan’s Ambassador to Nigeria and Representative, Taipei Trade Office, Andy Yih-Ping Liu, has described Nigeria as the best example of democracy in West Africa.
This is as he disclosed that his country was excited with President Bola Tinubu’s open declaration to make South Eastern Nigeria the ‘Taiwan of Africa’.
Speaking at a press parley in Lagos, Liu noted that many countries around Nigeria have been experiencing coup d’etat.
The ambassador stated that Taiwan and Nigeria have many things in common and expressed optimism that trade ties between the two would grow.
He said: “We are very happy to see how democratic elections have been held early this year in Nigeria and the subsequent swearing-in of the President and National Assembly members in May and June respectively.
“We marched into full-fledged democracy in the year 2000, we followed only one year behind Nigeria. So from the year 2000 till now, we have regular presidential and parliamentary elections every few years. Early this year, Nigeria had her presidential and parliamentary elections, ours will be in January next year.
“We have never discussed how we are going to develop our democracies, yet both of our people marched into democracy with our own free will, almost at the same pace, the same time and we want to hold it dearly.
“The reason why I have to mention this is because Nigeria is now not just the biggest democracy in Africa, but the best example of democracy in West Africa. So many countries around you are experiencing coup d’etat, they can’t even hold their own democratic system well enough. So this is the best thing Nigeria and Taiwan share. This is the best example of the free will of the people.”
On making South-East the ‘Taiwan of Africa’, the envoy said his country is ready to collaborate with Nigeria on economic development.
Tinubu, then candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, had during the party’s presidential campaign rally in Ebonyi State, promised to work with businessmen and women in the region to make South-East the Taiwan of Africa if elected.
“In November last year, president Tínubu, then candidate of the All Progressive Congress, APC, declared openly that he would like to make the South East become the Taiwan of Africa. This proclamation was widely reported and we were very happy to hear him say that because he didn’t mention Hong Kong, he didn’t mention China but he mentioned specifically Taiwan.
“He would like to develop the South East, with great talents in business, and industry, among others to become Taiwan of not just Nigeria but entire Africa. That’s a tremendous privilege to us Taiwanese Mission in Nigeria, and also for our government to hear that”, he stated.
Continuing, Liu added: “We are a small population the size of Lagos but we have built everything from scratch. We invest so much into education, technology, development and research. So education is the most important factor that moved Taiwan forward from late 1960.
“We have been through all the stages of economic development from the light industry of fabric, plastic, and rubber and into the heavy industry of shipbuilding, petrochemicals, and information technology.
“We invest smartly into education and offer free education from grade one to grade nine. But most importantly, no matter how we develop, the most important thing that we have developed is a strong and high percentage of the middle class and the middle class requires a democratic transformation from the old totalitarian order to full-fledged democracy”.