Burkina Faso-Taiwan Exchanges Affected by Relationship End|斷交"布吉納法索" 在台學生169人

Burkina Faso severed ties with Taiwan, but what happens to the collaborative co operations that are already running between the two nations? Ministry of Education statistics show, that there are currently 169 Burkinabe students studying in Taiwan. Meanwhile, in 2001, when Taiwan begun offering alternative military service, Taiwan's medical student Lien Chia-en was among the first to enter Burkina Faso to serve. He shares his first hand observations.


There is a time difference between here and there. When I woke up and saw the news, I felt extremely sad. I was also unable to reach the people we have over there.

Lien Chia-en is currently studying for a PhD degree at Harvard University. During a video interview, he said he felt very sad upon hearing the news that Burkina Faso had severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In 2001, he was the first alternative military service conscript to serve in Burkina Faso. At that time, he was a medical student. He not only offered medical services, but also started a "clothes for trash" campaign and built an orphanage. Lien's experiences in Burkina Faso became the inspiration for a television series.

In recent years, Lien and his church have been working together to build a school in Burkina Faso. They have already purchased land and built walls. Lien hopes to continue with the project despite the severed relations, which will make many administrative issues harder. He says the pressure felt by frontline diplomats must be very heavy.

The diplomatic vehicle pool must have a four-wheel drive with a full gas tank at all times. This is so diplomats can flee to the border and depart as soon as there is any whisper about the severing of relations. Those who have experienced the severing of relations told us that the people you help on a daily basis will suddenly become aloof. I don't know what happened during these past several hours, and what our frontline diplomats experienced.

The severing of diplomatic relations will affect formal diplomatic plans. For the past several years, the International Cooperation and Development Fund and National Taiwan University Hospital Yunlin Branch have sent personnel to work with Burkina Faso's Ministry of Health. Some medical personnel have stayed over there for one year, and Burkina Faso also sent doctors to Taiwan for training.

The plan was to train locals so that they would be able to provide new types of medical treatment. There is of course some disappointment that relations were severed. However, I believe the ideas we were able to share during the process were helpful to them.