Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, right, meets with his counterpart in Sao Tome and Principe Urbino Botelho.[Photo/Chinanews.com]

China and Sao Tome and Principe resumed diplomatic relations in Beijing on Monday, after the west African nation cut "diplomatic ties" with Taiwan last week.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his counterpart in Sao Tome and Principe Urbino Botelho held talks at the Diaoyutai state guesthouse and signed a joint communique to resume the diplomatic relations.

Sao Tome and Principe, an island nation in the Gulf of Guinea and a former Portuguese colony, established diplomatic relations with China immediately after gaining independence in 1975 but switched to Taiwan in 1997.