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The People’s Republic of China seems determined to prove Senator Ted Cruz right. After the Chinese Embassy in Somalia unleashed a torrent of angry statements over Cruz’s call to recognize Somaliland, the Texas Republican fired back with typical bluntness: “The fact that the CCP is this upset is even further reason that the Administration should recognize Somaliland.“
That response has turned what was already a diplomatic mess into something much bigger—a window into China’s broader campaign of arm-twisting and what mounting evidence shows is outright proxy warfare in the Horn of Africa. Beijing’s furious overreaction hasn’t intimidated anyone. Instead, it’s made Cruz’s argument for him while the clock ticks on China’s escalating campaign of destabilization.
Wolf Diplomacy Backfires
Cruz wrote to President Trump on August 14, urging recognition of Somaliland “as an independent state, with sovereignty within its 1960 borders.” The Chinese response was predictably hysterical. Their embassy in Somalia cranked out statement after statement, calling Cruz’s letter a “baseless attack” and “serious interference.” They even branded Taiwan’s office in Hargeisa an “illegal” presence.
This is classic Wolf Diplomacy—Beijing’s preferred method of diplomatic intimidation through aggressive rhetoric and barely concealed threats. But Cruz’s comeback has reframed the entire episode. China’s meltdown isn’t just diplomatic protest anymore. It’s proof of how much they fear losing control in this critical region.
Blood Money and Proxy Violence
The pressure campaign goes well beyond angry press releases. Cruz’s letter documented China’s “economic and diplomatic coercion” designed to punish Somaliland for maintaining ties with Taiwan. In April, Beijing got Somalia to ban Taiwanese passport holders from even transiting through to Somaliland—collective punishment disguised as immigration policy.
But the real story is much darker. As this publication reported just weeks ago, “the Chinese embassy in Somalia has chosen to directly fund and support these militias in the far east of Somaliland” with weapons and ammunition to foment violence. The bloody conflict in Las Anod isn’t some organic tribal dispute—it’s a Chinese-funded proxy war designed to punish Somaliland for its Taiwan ties and prevent any American military presence.
China’s plan “is to outmaneuver the United States and force them to have no strategic maneuverability in the red sea to counteract the Houthis and to further destabilize the world’s busiest shipping route.” This isn’t just about Taiwan anymore. It’s about control of global shipping lanes and America’s ability to project power in one of the world’s most critical waterways.
The timing couldn’t be worse. While American policymakers debate and deliberate, Chinese weapons are flowing to militants in eastern Somaliland right now. Every day of delay gives Beijing more time to consolidate its proxy forces and create facts on the ground that will be harder to reverse.
Strategic Nightmare for Beijing
China’s panic makes perfect sense when you map out their “String of Pearls” strategy across the Indian Ocean. They’ve spent years building this network of ports and bases to control critical shipping lanes. The jewel of the whole operation sits in Djibouti—a massive naval base that gives them dominant influence over the approaches to the Red Sea.
Somaliland sits right across the water from that base. As Cruz noted in his letter, Somaliland occupies prime real estate “along the Gulf of Aden, putting it near one of the world’s busiest maritime corridors.” Even better from an American perspective, Somaliland “has proposed hosting a U.S. military presence near the Red Sea.”
For China, this represents their worst-case scenario. A sovereign, U.S.-aligned Somaliland hosting American forces would put a competitor right at the chokepoint of the Bab el-Mandeb strait. Their carefully constructed String of Pearls would have a major weak link, and Chinese naval dominance in the region would be broken.
No wonder they’re throwing a diplomatic tantrum while simultaneously funding militias to prevent that outcome.
Somalia Joins the Pressure Campaign
Somalia’s government has now joined China’s pressure campaign with equally desperate tactics. In an August 14 letter to the Trump administration, Somalia’s Embassy in Washington attempted to hold U.S. counterterrorism efforts hostage, claiming that recognizing Somaliland “would only embolden extremists and threaten the stability of the entire Horn of Africa.”
The argument is absurd on its face. Somalia is essentially claiming that recognizing the most stable, democratic territory in the Horn of Africa would somehow benefit Al-Shabaab terrorists. This from a government that loses territory to Al-Shabaab on a near-daily basis while Somaliland has been successfully fighting both Al-Shabaab and ISIS for years with minimal international support.
The timing reveals the coordination. While China deploys Wolf Diplomacy and funds proxy militias, Somalia resorts to terrorism scaremongering—the one argument Mogadishu’s handlers believe might work with American policymakers. The message is clear: stick with the failed state that’s actively hemorrhaging ground to extremists rather than recognize the functioning democracy that’s actually containing them.
Somalia’s letter boasts of “more than twenty successful joint strikes conducted in 2025 alone” against terrorists, inadvertently highlighting the problem. After decades of international support and military intervention, Somalia still needs constant American airstrikes just to slow its territorial losses to Al-Shabaab. Meanwhile, Somaliland has maintained stability and expanded its control without requiring U.S. military intervention at all.
The Iranian Connection
The proxy warfare gets even more complex. China’s destabilization plan “takes help from their major ally Iran’s and its proxy the Houthi terrorist Organization as well as Somalia and its northern region of Puntland.” This isn’t just China versus Taiwan—it’s part of a broader axis of authoritarian powers working to strangle maritime trade and limit American influence.
The Houthis have already shown they can disrupt Red Sea shipping with relatively crude weapons. Imagine what they could accomplish with Chinese-backed militias controlling territory on both sides of the Bab el-Mandeb strait. The global economy runs through that chokepoint, and China is systematically working to control it.
Standing Firm Against Intimidation
Somaliland and Taiwan haven’t blinked despite the escalating pressure. The Somaliland Representative Office in Taiwan reaffirmed their nation’s “inalienable right to self-determination.” Taiwan’s office in Hargeisa was equally defiant, rejecting China’s “false claims of territorial sovereignty” and declaring that “Neither Taiwan nor China is subordinate to the other.”
These responses highlight something important: China’s Wolf Diplomacy doesn’t work when countries refuse to be intimidated. But defiance alone won’t stop Chinese weapons from flowing to proxy militias. That requires American action.
China Plays Itself
Beijing’s ham-fisted response has accomplished exactly what Cruz hoped for. Instead of keeping Somaliland recognition as a quiet policy discussion, China’s diplomatic temper tantrum has made it front-page news. International attention is now focused not just on Somaliland’s strategic value, but on China’s destabilizing behavior in the region.
The Chinese Embassy’s angry statements weren’t intimidation—they were confirmation. They confirmed that China sees Somaliland as a threat to their regional ambitions. They confirmed that Beijing will use economic pressure and proxy violence to get their way. And they confirmed that Cruz’s recommendation deserves serious consideration from the Trump administration.
Recent developments suggest the window for diplomatic solutions may be narrowing. As militia activity continues in eastern Somaliland and Chinese influence expands through proxy relationships, the strategic calculus becomes more complex for U.S. policymakers.
In trying to kill the idea of Somaliland recognition, China’s Wolf Diplomacy has instead made the strongest possible case for it.