The South African government’s demand that Taiwan’s representative office move out of Pretoria despite ongoing negotiations showed that China has intensified its suppression of Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
“We will continue to communicate with the South African government based on the principles of equality and dignity,” the ministry said in a statement.
Since October last year, the ministry has continued to communicate and seek to understand South Africa’s views on future bilateral relations through diplomatic channels, while adhering to Taiwan’s position that it would never accept unilateral changes to the “status quo.”
Photo: Huang Chin-hsuan, Taipei Times
Late last month, the South African government once again sent a letter to the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa, requesting the representative office to move out of Pretoria by the end of next month, and even tried to downgrade the representative office and change its name to a “trade office.”
Ivan Meyer, the chairman of the Democratic Alliance, South Africa’s second-largest party, was recently sanctioned by the Chinese government for visiting Taiwan, the ministry said.
The South African government is still negotiating with Taiwan, but it has once again requested that the representative office move out of the capital within a time limit, which shows that China’s suppression of Taiwan in South Africa has intensified.
After receiving the notification from the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) immediately reconvened with the contingency team to discuss how the government should react and maintained contact with personnel at home and abroad during the Lunar New Year holiday.
He also instructed Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Anthony Ho (賀忠義) to immediately summon the South African Representative to Taiwan to express the government’s serious concerns.
“Taiwan’s position on not accepting the South African government’s unilateral contravention of bilateral agreements remains unchanged, and the nation will continue to uphold the principles of reciprocity and dignity when communicating with the South African government. Our subsequent responses will depend on the South African government’s actions and will be determined by Taiwan’s relevant plans. Related progress in this matter will also be explained to the public and the media in a timely manner,” the ministry said.
“We once again solemnly call on the South African government, as host of the G20 Summit this year, to abide by the 1997 legal framework for bilateral relations. Before a consensus is reached, they should not take any coercive measures or other measures that may interfere with the operations and expatriate services functions of Taiwan’s representative office,” the ministry added.
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