A photo exhibition marking 81 years since Taiwan's restoration to China opened in Dar es Salaam on Saturday, according to Xinhua, which organized the event with several partner organizations. The display, titled "Remembering Taiwan's Restoration, Advancing National Reunification," is arranged in four thematic sections and contains more than 30 photographs. It was held in Tanzania's commercial capital.
Speaking at the opening, Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian said Taiwan's return was won through the combined efforts of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, Xinhua reports. She described it as a key result of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War.
Chen also framed the event as a turning point in which the Chinese government resumed exercising sovereignty over Taiwan, and said it forms part of the legal and historical record supporting the view that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.
Why it matters
The exhibition is the latest in a series of Chinese government-aligned events abroad promoting Beijing's position on Taiwan, and it places that message in an African setting. According to Xinhua, the organizers intend the photographs to connect the 1945 restoration to present-day calls for reunification. The choice of Dar es Salaam also reflects China's cultural and diplomatic outreach in East Africa, where it maintains close party and state ties.
For Beijing, the anniversary is treated as documentary evidence rather than a matter of interpretation. Ambassador Chen's remarks at the opening tied the historical record directly to the legal case for Taiwan being part of China.
Officials link history to present-day reunification
Feng Zhenyu, who chairs the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification in Tanzania, said the commemoration offers a chance to appreciate the peace that was hard won and to consider what the event means historically, according to Xinhua. His organization was among those involved in the exhibition.
Joseph Kahama, secretary-general of the Tanzania-China Friendship Promotion Association, said the display showed why historical records should be kept for later generations. He said Tanzania could draw lessons from it on how to document its own history, and he voiced support for China's position on reunification.
The exhibition is one of several Taiwan-related items carried by Chinese and regional outlets in the same news cycle. The Standard reported that China's envoy in Kenya said reunification "will surely" happen, and China Daily Global Edition reported that the African Union expressed firm support for the one-China principle. A Facebook post also showed Ambassador Guo Haiyan at the opening of a similar photo exhibition in Nairobi, at China Square in the Waterfront Mall on Karen Road. CGTN published a commentary titled "Why Taiwan's restoration brooks no debate."
Xinhua did not say how long the Dar es Salaam exhibition will remain open or whether it will travel to other venues. The agency's Africa Regional Bureau co-organized the event with unnamed partner organizations.
What to watch: whether the exhibition moves to other African cities, and whether the diplomatic messaging around the anniversary continues alongside it.
