As the 11th Our Ocean Conference (OOC 11) in Mombasa concluded on June 18, international delegates celebrated billions of dollars in new pledges and the newly signed Mombasa Declaration on fisheries transparency and combating Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing. Concurrently, various forums hailed the impending implementation of the newly minted Agreement on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ Treaty) to establish marine protected areas. Yet, behind this diplomatic pageantry lay a chilling precedent for global scientific cooperation.
Under intense pressure from Beijing, the Kenyan government abruptly revoked the approved electronic travel authorizations of the Taiwanese delegation led by the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC). Defending the exclusion to international media, Kenyan Foreign Ministry Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei claimed that individuals carrying Taiwanese passports lack valid travel documents. “Any person purporting to hold a Taiwanese passport would ordinarily not be allowed through our borders for lacking proper documentation and would not in any event be part of a formal state meeting convened by Kenya government,” Sing’oei said.
