NAIROBI — Kenya barred delegates from Taiwan from attending the “Our Ocean Conference, 2026” in Mombasa after last-minute visa revocations and what Taiwan described as the confiscation of passports and phones, the island’s government said on June 16.
Taiwan’s Ocean Affairs Council said Kenyan authorities revoked visas for visiting scientists and prevented some participants from leaving the airport area for more than 20 hours. The council called the actions “barbaric obstruction” and said they were taken under pressure from Beijing, which insists on the “One China” principle and opposes any official treatment of Taiwan as a sovereign state. China’s foreign ministry praised Kenya for “resolutely upholding the One China principle.”
Kenya’s foreign ministry and the conference organisers did not reply to requests for comment. Taiwan’s foreign minister, Lin Chia-lung, condemned Nairobi’s move, saying Kenya had “unilaterally distorted” the One China policy and blocked Taiwanese participation. Taiwan rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and has repeatedly objected to diplomatic isolation in international forums.
The Our Ocean conference convenes governments, scientists and civil-society groups to discuss marine protection and sustainable ocean use. Taiwan, which has active marine research programmes, said the exclusion deprived the event of scientific contribution and undermined cooperation on shared environmental challenges.