Author: Richard J. Payne, Cassandra R. Veney.

The United Nation's acceptance of the People's Republic of China's "One China Policy" forced Taiwan to pursue a more vigorous policy of legitimation through unofficial and non-political relations. The basis for this policy is historically tied to the post-World War II struggle for power and the outcome of the Chinese Civil War. Since these events, both Beijing and Taipei have actively courted African political movements and the states that grew out of these movements' struggles. The current issue of African recognition plays not only to conceptualizations of African states and the roles which they play in the international arena, but also to a re-conceptualization of Taiwan and the legitimacy of its interests on a world stage and Africa's part in that definition.