The South African government has expressed willingness to negotiate over relocating the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa out of Pretoria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told a news conference yesterday.
The ministry earlier this month confirmed that the South African government unilaterally demanded that the office be moved out of the administrative capital before today.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Monday last week said that Taipei would not move the office, as the South African government’s unilateral demand contravened an agreement it signed with Taiwan in 1997.
Photo: CNA
Lin, who is visiting Taiwan’s allies in Central America and the Caribbean, has been paying close attention to the issue, and had instructed the office to continue negotiating with the South African government under the principles of equity and dignity, providing continuous consular services, and ensuring the office employees’ personal safety, ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) told the news conference.
The minister also instructed Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Anthony Ho (賀忠義) to meet with Graham Anderson, Representative of the Liaison Office of South Africa in Taiwan, on Monday, to again express Taipei’s stance and solemn concerns, Liu said.
With the continuous efforts of the ministry and the office in Pretoria, as well as many people who expressed concern over the issue, the South African government has expressed to the office in Pretoria that it is willing to negotiate on the issue through official channels of communication, he said.
“The ministry also believes and urges the South African government, a G20 member nation, not to take any coercive measures or other actions that might interfere with the [Pretoria] liaison office’s operation and consular services, before a consensus is reached through mutual negotiation and discussions,” he said.
Taipei, under the principles of equity and dignity, would continue to exchange ideas with the South African government to understand its thoughts on the relationship between the two sides, he added.
Asked about Taiwan not being invited to the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Azerbaijan next month, Liu said that “excluding Taiwan’s participation is a loss to the world.”
“The impact of climate change affects everyone, with no one spared, so the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement mechanisms established in response to climate change should not leave out Taiwan for any political reason,” he said, urging countries to support Taiwan’s participation this year.
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