Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Tuesday, 16 June publicly condemned China for allegedly pressuring Kenya to bar Taiwanese delegates from the 11th Our Ocean Conference in Mombasa, calling it a brazen example of Beijing's coercive diplomatic conduct. The incident has drawn sharp attention to China's escalating efforts to isolate Taiwan from international scientific and environmental forums.

What Happened in Mombasa

According to Taiwan's MoFA, a group of Taiwanese academics travelled to Mombasa on Sunday at the explicit invitation of the Kenyan government to participate in a pre-conference academic exchange and present ocean-related research. Upon arrival at the venue, conference organisers refused to issue entry badges to the delegation, citing non-recognition of Taiwanese passports.

The situation escalated significantly from there. The ministry stated that the academics had their mobile phones and passports confiscated and were detained for over 20 hours before finally being permitted to board a flight and depart the country. The Ocean Affairs Council, which had separately planned to send an official delegation to the main conference, cancelled its participation citing the Kenyan government's conduct and concerns over the safety of its delegation members.

Taiwan's Formal Condemnation

The MoFA issued a strongly worded statement characterising the episode as evidence of China's 'heavy-handed and overbearing diplomacy.' The ministry argued that Beijing was placing political considerations above professional cooperation on ocean sustainability — a domain where Taiwan has been an active contributor since 2015, when it first participated in the Our Ocean Conference series.

The ministry further accused China of using Kenya as a political proxy to enforce its one-China framework on multilateral platforms, arguing that the exclusion violated the conference's own stated principles of inclusiveness and cooperation. Taiwan urged Beijing to halt what it described as 'barbaric actions' that undermine global cooperation on ocean affairs.

Call for International Action

Beyond condemning Beijing, Taiwan's MoFA appealed to like-minded nations to treat the incident seriously and coordinate efforts to counter China's 'bullying diplomacy' in international forums. The ministry's language was notably direct, reflecting growing Taipei frustration at the systematic exclusion it faces across United Nations-linked and multilateral events.

Notably, this is not an isolated case. Taiwan has faced similar exclusions from World Health Assembly observer sessions and other intergovernmental bodies, consistently attributed by Taipei to Chinese diplomatic pressure on host nations.

Broader Context: Taiwan-China Tensions

China regards Taiwan as an inalienable part of its territory and has repeatedly stated it reserves the right to pursue reunification by force if necessary. Despite sustained pressure — including military incursions into Taiwan's air defence identification zone and sustained diplomatic lobbying — Taiwan continues to assert its sovereignty, backed by strong domestic public support.

Separately, just last month, Taiwan's Ministry of Digital Affairs (MODA) had urged citizens to remain alert to cybersecurity risks posed by four Chinese-made mobile applications, including navigation app Amap, which reportedly leads both Android and iOS download charts for navigation apps in Taiwan. The dual-front pressure — diplomatic and digital — underscores the breadth of Taiwan's security concerns vis-à-vis Beijing.

The Our Ocean Conference incident is likely to add fresh momentum to calls within Taiwan's diplomatic community for stronger multilateral frameworks that resist Chinese pressure on participant inclusion.