South Africa's call for Taiwan office move faces rejection

Taiwan has turned down South Africa's request to relocate its representative office from Pretoria, the capital, to Johannesburg, the commercial hub.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jeff Liu stated during a news conference that the request to relocate or close the office breached a 1997 agreement between the two Nations. "The South African government's demands have violated the 1997 agreement between Taiwan and South Africa, which stipulates that both parties can set up offices in each other's country. Our side will never accept the unreasonable demands of the South African government," he said.

This decision reflects Taiwan's ongoing efforts to resist China's attempts to diplomatically isolate the self-governing island.

Liu reiterated Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung’s statement at the legislature on Monday that Taiwan “is ready for any situation” regarding the demand.

Both Lin and Liu emphasized that the office is Taiwanese property, and Taipei has the authority to decide its location and status.

Fan Chen-Kuo, director of the Taiwan-Japan Relations Association, stated that the "South African government's request is both unreasonable and illegal."

He emphasized that this perspective is shared not only by them but also by other democratic nations.

South Africa has a liaison office in Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, reflecting a robust commercial relationship between the two.

These offices operate as unofficial embassies and consulates due to the absence of formal diplomatic relations, which were severed when South Africa opted to recognize China instead of Taiwan.

China asserts that Taiwan is its territory and is prepared to use force if needed to annex it.

Taiwan operates missions in all major countries, but it has only five in Africa, where China's influence is growing through infrastructure projects like roads and railways.

In 2017, Nigeria requested that Taiwan relocate its liaison office from Abuja, the administrative capital, to Lagos, the commercial hub, and Taiwan agreed to this request.

South Africa announced last week that it requested Taiwan to relocate its liaison office.

This move is perceived as a concession to China, which has leveraged its influence to exclude Taiwan from the United Nations and related organizations like the World Health Organization, while restricting its formal diplomatic relationships to only 11 countries and the Vatican.