US and French lawmakers yesterday criticized South Africa’s demand that Taiwan move its representative office out of Pretoria, saying that it has jeopardized South Africa’s relationship with Western democracies.
On Oct. 7 last year, South Africa requested that the office move by the end of that month, a demand renewed late last month following months of negotiations.
US Senator Ted Cruz on Tuesday wrote on social media that South Africa was “going out of its way to alienate the US and our allies.”
Photo: CNA
“Their timeline to expel our Taiwanese allies from Pretoria is deeply troubling, undermines the national security interests of the US and our allies, and will deepen tensions between the US and South Africa,” Cruz said.
The senator said he would use his position as chairman of the Africa subcommittee on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee to investigate Pretoria’s “concerning” decisions.
Cruz’s comments came a day after US Senator Marsha Blackburn voiced support for Taiwan over the matter on social media.
“The United States must stand with Taiwan and stand up to South Africa,” she wrote, adding that South Africa could be removed from the US’ African Growth and Opportunity Act should it “bully Taiwan” in collaboration with China.
Separately, several French lawmakers backed Taiwan on the matter at an event hosted in Paris by the Taipei Representative Office in France.
French Senator Alain Richard, a former minister of the armed forces, said that South Africa’s “willing diplomatic compliance” was another instance of the many actions its government has taken against the alliance of democracies.
South Africa’s request is not representative of a larger trend among Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to abandon Taipei, but Beijing’s ideological and economic infiltration of Pretoria, he said.
The move would not impede Taiwan’s bid for international participation, which continues to gather momentum as the world comes to see the nation’s inherent merit, he said.
“Is South Africa still a sovereign nation? If the answer is ‘yes,’ it should say that its internal affairs are not for others to interfere with,” said French Senator Olivier Cadic, who is also the vice president of the French Senate Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee.
French National Assembly Deputy Marie-Noelle Battistel, president of the French National Assembly Taiwan-France Friendship Group, said South Africa breached its agreement with Taiwan in demanding the nation move its representative office.
French National Assembly Deputy Nicolas Metzdorf said South Africa’s demand was “a terrible decision” and that Chinese interference has played a significant role in Pretoria’s authoritarian shift.
“The growing influence of BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa] is incompatible with the democratic values of France,” he said, adding that Taiwan has the right to be recognized like every nation.
“We must respect the wish of Taiwanese for their independence to be recognized whether other nations are willing or not,” he said.
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