Malawi turns red - image from Wikipedia

Officials from Malawi and China announced yesterday that the tiny African nation had severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in favor of the People's Republic.

From The New York Times:

[The move drew] a bitter response from Taiwanese officials who accused the Chinese government of luring the Malawians into its camp with $6 billion in aid and other inducements.

Malawi’s foreign minister, Joyce Banda, who made the announcement, said her nation had actually severed ties with Taiwan and set up diplomatic relations with Beijing last month; she did not say why the announcement was delayed, although it follows the landslide victory in parliamentary elections in Taiwan on Saturday for the opposition Kuomintang, which supports closer ties with China.

A Xinhua report about the announcement ends with this rather gloating statement:

In Africa, only four states, with a total population of less than 17 million, recognize Taiwan. They are Swaziland, Burkina Faso, Gambia and Sao Tome and Principe.

Malawi has a history of foreign policy choices that are unusual for its neighborhood. During South Africa's apartheid years, Malawi was led by Hastings Kamuzu Banda who maintained strong ties with the South African government, rare in Africa at that time. Malawi under Banda was a little like Singapore: the country was famous for being neat, clean and orderly, but Banda banned long hair on males, bell bottom jeans and other signs of pinko-ness. It was forbidden to discuss Banda's age. He did not tolerate political dissent.

Despite his dictatorial tendencies, he was perceived as a bastion against communism and he nurtured close ties with the U.S.A. and other Western countries, while his neighbors in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique allied themselves with China and the Soviet Union.

Note: Your correspondent has been unable to ascertain if Joyce Banda is a relative of Hastings Kamuzu, but the name is not rare in Zambia and Malawi.