The current phase of talks with South Africa regarding its demand to move the nation’s representative office from Pretoria is “more challenging” than the first round due to intensified Chinese pressure, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday.
On Oct. 7 last year, South Africa requested that the office move by the end of that month.
However, on Oct. 29, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) said that South Africa had expressed willingness to reach a deal through official communication channels.
Photo: Huang Chin-hsuan, Taipei Times
The relocation was delayed after the first round of talks.
However, late last month the South African government once again sent a letter to the Taipei Liason Office in South Africa requesting that it move from the administrative capital by the end of next month and stated plans to downgrade it to a “trade office.”
The ministry on Sunday said it would “continue to communicate with the South African government based on the principles of equality and dignity.”
The ministry would maintain its stance that it would not move as it enters a more challenging phase of talks, the source said yesterday.
The ministry has also thanked its international allies for their continued support in speaking out on the matter, they said.
US Senator Marsha Blackburn on Monday wrote on X that she supports Taiwan in the matter.
“The United States must stand with Taiwan and stand up to South Africa,” Blackburn wrote, adding that if South Africa works with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to “bully Taiwan,” Washington should consider removing the nation from the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Bilateral discussions are ongoing, although the latest developments show China’s intensified pressure on South Africa, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Deputy Director Chen Yung-po (陳詠博) told a news conference in Taipei yesterday.
The CCP’s suppression of Taiwan has become commonplace, but this latest move shows an attempt to gauge the reactions of the new governments of the US and Japan, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) said.
The Pretoria location was determined based on legally binding agreements between the two nations, leaving no justification for the relocation request, Wang said.
In contravening this agreement, China is bound to end up “losing more than it gains,” while US Secretary of State Marco Rubio might exclude South Africa from aid programs in response to its perceived allegiance to China, Wang added.
Additional reporting by Fang Wei-li
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS