See the new condition attached to $6bn loan deal between Nigeria and China.

Reports have emerged that a caveat has been included in the $6bn infrastructure loan deal the Nigerian government struck with the Chinese government last week.


The condition is that the Nigerian government must not do business with Taiwan.

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has continued to proclaim the One China policy, insisting it is the sole legal government of China and that Taiwan is a province of China, a development that has made Taiwan, also known as Republic of China (ROC), not to be recognised as a sovereign state by most countries.

Specifically, a top government official on President Buhari’s entourage to China said all the deals struck came with that proviso which the Chinese President Xi Jinping specifically emphasised by stating that Nigeria must not deal with anyone claiming to be representing Taiwan because there is only one China and no other sovereignty operates from China under any such guise or nomenclature.

It was however not a surprise to the Nigerian delegation as it was envisaged in their pre-trip brainstorming session having understood some of the local politics that define China’s international relations, the person said.