“IN VIEW OF MAINLAND CHINA'S INFLUENCE ON THE AFRICAN CONTINENT, THE GAMBIA HAS SAW THE NEED IN DUMPING TAIWAN AND IT DECIDES TO BEFRIEND ITS ARCH RIVAL CHINA."

First and foremost, before addressing the main crop of your journalistic query, it should be noted that Taiwan has been Gambia's main ally since the advent of the military takeover that brought President Yahya Jammeh to power back in July of 1994. Taiwan has always been there for The Gambia, especially at the time when the former military junta was faced with economic sanctions by some western allies--notably the United Kingdom and the United States governments. 

That said, it is imperative to note that Taiwanese's bilateral ties with The Gambia has been that of mutual respect, cultural exchange, and more importantly economically rewarding on the side of Banjul. This is evident on the massive "developmental projects" spearheaded in The Gambia by the government of Taiwan--especially in the field of Education, Agriculture, Health, Security, just to name a few. 

From the onset, it is a known fact that Gambia's diplomatic ties with Taiwan have been largely motivated by the usual "Dollar Diplomacy." Taiwan has been vigorously looking for partners to help promote its agenda at the United Nations. But in doing so, the Island country has not been very careful in befriending genuine partners. Sadly, the end results are always that of embarrassment for Taiwan. 

At the end of the day, Taiwan is dumped by countries they called “true allies" and thrown under the bus. Well that's the price of “Checkbook Diplomacy." The highest bidder always succeeds in buying out the insincere and mischievous partner and I am referring to The Gambia under dictator Jammeh's leadership. 

Essentially, The Gambia is now saying to Taiwan that it is time to breakaway and move on and we are looking for new allies, who can meet our economic needs. 

Despite Gambia's diplomatic flip-flopping and insincerity, Taiwan has been issuing checks to The Gambia government to help bailout the country on the face of an economic crunch. But it appears that Jammeh has found a more viable economic partner than Taiwan. I will elaborate on this later. 

On the question as to why The Gambia has severed ties with Taiwan, in my view, I think the decision has been largely motivated by economic reasons. The Gambia no longer thinks that Taiwan can be of help to the country economically in fixing the economic mess perpetrated by an inept regime presided over by a corrupt dictator Yahya Jammeh. The country has become an economic burden to Taiwan in all fairness. It has reached a point that Taiwan is getting tired of bailing out The Gambia economically. There is nothing that Taiwan can do in helping Gambia fix Jammeh's economic mess. Gambia's economy and infrastructure had collapsed overtime. The European Union and other donor partners are pressing for governance reforms before any funds would be disbursed to The Gambia. That's the dilemma the country has been faced with. 

In view of Mainland China's influence on the African continent, The Gambia has saw the need in dumping Taiwan and it decides to befriend its arch rival China. The Gambia is in desperate need of investors to help create employment opportunities for the nation's massive unemployed population. Foreign Direct Investment has been on its lowest ebb, while the nation's per capita income is declining dramatically. 

Prior to the country severing ties with Taiwan, it has been gathered that some multimillion dollar Mainland Chinese companies were issued with licenses to explore Gambia's potentials of drilling oil. Some couple of millions of dollars has already been deposited into a foreign bank account, in which Jammeh and his Secretary General and Presidential Affairs Minister Momodou Sabally are the co signatories to the offshore drilling bank account. In fact, they have started messing with that money. 

The Gambia government has not yet publicly communicated to its citizens about its plans to establish diplomatic ties with Mainland China, but in coming days some Foreign policy shift is expected in Banjul. The government is expected to formally  announce the restoration of diplomatic ties with Mainland China. China was Gambia's ally prior to Jammeh coming to power. The military junta decided to sever the diplomatic ties that existed between Mainland China and the deposed Jawara administration. 

Also imperative to note is Gambia's latest Foreign policy shift, which is more Arab friendly compared to its former western allies. Jammeh is determined to befriend America's enemies and also accommodating Lebanese businesses accused of financing the Lebanon terrorist group--Hezbollah. A case in point is Hussein Tajideen of Tajco Gambia, a Lebanese businessman, who has been designated by the US Treasury Department as Hezbollah financier. Tajideen has been Jammeh's close buddy, until lately, when the duo had fallen out. Jammeh accuses him of economic sabotage and he was ordered to leave The Gambia. 

Barely less than three months after he was declared unwelcome into the country, Jammeh issued a statement that he has pardoned Tajideen and that he was free to return to the Gambia to run his business. 

Another reason that could be cited for Gambia's move to sever ties with Taiwan is Jammeh's growing expectations of getting financial help from Kuwait. Jammeh is embarking on a state visit to Kuwait on Monday. He thinks that the Kuwaitis would come to his aid at these trying times of Gambia's economic crunch.

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source: http://www.freedomnewspaper.com/Homepage/tabid/36/newsid367/9280/IN-VIEW-OF-MAINLAND-CHINAS-INFLUENCE-ON-THE-AFRICAN-CONTINENT-THE-GAMBIA-HAS-SAW-THE-NEED-IN-DUMPING-TAIWAN-AND-IT-DECIDES-TO-BEFRIEND-ITS-ARCH-RIVAL-CHINA/Default.aspx