Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland will be one of the top agenda items at the China—Arab States Summit, later this year. This is the result of intensified diplomatic coordination between Beijing, China, and Mogadishu, Somalia, including the political and regional repercussions of Israel’s latest move.
China has added its voice, joining the world community in strongly condemning Israel’s recent recognition of Somaliland as an independent state. China described Israel’s move as a “violation” of the principles of the United Nations Charter and International law.
According to Chinese state media, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi extended an invitation to Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to attend the second China—Arab States Summit during a phone call with Somali Foreign Minister Abdisalam Abdi Ali.
According to Dawan Africa, a media group that covers news from the Horn of Africa, during the phone call, China’s Foreign Minister Wang reaffirmed China’s commitment to a consistent policy of friendship toward Somalia “regardless of changes in the international landscape,” underscoring Beijing’s support for the positions of developing countries in multilateral forums.
China allegedly opposes Somaliland’s reported “collusion with Taiwan authorities to seek independence,” Foreign Minister Wang said during the call, according to reporting by Reuters. China claims Taiwan as part of its mainland. Somaliland is a breakaway region from Somalia.
Somalia also currently holds the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council.
Somalia’s Foreign Minister Abdi Ali reiterated Somalia’s adherence to the “one-China” principle and “expressed Mogadishu’s readiness to deepen cooperation with Beijing in political, security, and defense fields, as the Somali government seeks broader Arab and international support against any challenge to the country’s unity,” reported Reuters.com.
Somalia holds the UNSC presidency for January, a role that Beijing has pledged to support as part of broader coordination with Arab and African partners ahead of the upcoming China-Arab Summit.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar’s official visit to Hargeisa, the capital of the breakaway region of Somaliland, on January 6, 2026, was seen as having far-reaching objectives that threaten China’s national security and undermine its Belt and Road Initiative.
Explained Dr. Nadia Helmy, associate professor of political science and economics at Beni Suef University, specializing in Chinese politics and Sino-Israeli relations. “Sino-Israeli” refers to the relationship between China and Israel.
In Dr. Helmy’s article, “A Diplomatic Chain Reaction: Does Israel’s Gambit in Somaliland Challenge China’s Security in Africa?” published in Modern Diplomacy, she claims Israel and the U.S. view Somaliland as a tool for blatant Israeli and American penetration in the Horn of Africa.
Dr. Helmy also writes that Israel’s far-reaching objectives threaten China’s national security and undermine its Belt and Road Initiative. “China described Gideon Sa’ar’s visit to Somaliland as ‘illegal and a blatant violation of Somalia’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity.’
China also accused Israel of involvement in the process of dividing Somalia and creating widespread instability in the Horn of Africa. The Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that ‘Israel’s continued attempts to support Somaliland’s independence represent a dangerous precedent in international relations aimed at tearing apart Somalia’s unity,’” Dr. Helmy notes.
China sees Israel’s move in giving Somaliland nation-state status as aimed at disrupting the regional balance. Somaliland is the only territory on the continent besides the tiny state of Eswatini to recognize Taiwan, which has angered China.
“Chinese circles believe that any escalation or instability in the Horn of Africa surrounding Somalia could threaten China’s investment interests and vital maritime supply lines near the Gulf of Aden,” Dr. Helmy added.
“Chinese circles link Israel’s support for Somaliland’s secession to its support for Taiwan’s new multi-layered air defense system, known as T-DOM, and its connection to Israel’s Iron Dome system in the face of China. China views the Somaliland issue with extreme sensitivity because it links the separatist movements there to the situation in Taiwan.
Therefore, it opposes any international recognition of the breakaway regions, fearing that this could set a precedent that could be used against it in Taiwan and against its various religious and ethnic minorities.”
Apart from China, Somalia’s Ambassador to the UN Abukar Dahir Osman, during a briefing with journalists, said that the issue with Somaliland “was deliberately injected into the international arena to divert attention from what is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories.”
Yossi Mekelberg, Senior Consulting Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Program at Chatham House, agrees. He told RTÉ News that “this is not only an attempt by the Israeli government to deflect from its many failures in Gaza.
Its stated goal of defeating Hamas, and settler violence in the West Bank, but also to deflect from its polarizing anti-democratic reforms of the judiciary at home.”
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