The Taipei Liaison Office has told the department of international relations and co-operation (Dirco) that the requested move from Pretoria to Johannesburg could have budgetary implications.
In December 2023 and again in April this year, Dirco requested the move take place by the end of October but this has still not happened, and international relations and co-operation minister Ronald Lamola’s spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, told Business Day that “the Taipei Liaison Office has informed us that our request may have budgetary implications. We await their feedback on how we might address these concerns to facilitate the implementation of our request.”
Taiwan has opposed the move, accusing SA of bowing to pressure from China, its largest trading partner. A spokesperson for the Taiwanese office said on Tuesday that it had no comment to make at this stage.
In a written reply to a parliamentary question by MK party MP Nhlamulo Ndhlela, who wanted to know what steps Lamola would take concerning the refusal of the Taiwanese government to close their Pretoria offices, the minister indicated that the government was insisting on its decision.
“While Taipei has not adhered to the deadline of October 30 2024, the SA government’s decision regarding the relocation is going ahead to align with the non-diplomatic and non-political nature of relations with Taipei.
“In the interim, Dirco will implement certain administrative actions, in line with Dirco policies as drawn from the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations of 1963, to ensure compliance with the instruction to relocate out of Pretoria.”
Phiri explained that article 12 of the convention allowed for the establishment of consular posts and trade offices in economic hubs to facilitate nonpolitical and nondiplomatic relations. The administrative action was to apply the correct designation to the Taipei Liaison Office as a Trade Office.
Lamola said SA accepted the One China policy, that the People's Republic of China was its sole legal representative and that Taiwan was an inalienable part of China, as well as the regions of Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau. SA severed political and diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1997.
“In December 2023 and April 2024, in further advancing the practical implementation of the One China Policy, the government through the department instructed the Taipei Liaison Office (TLO) to relocate out of the capital, Pretoria to Johannesburg by October 30 2024,” Lamola said.
“This aligns with diplomatic practice, wherein embassies and the High Commission are located in the capital and the TLO will be positioned appropriately in SA's economic hub, with all other trade offices.”
Phiri has said previously that the Taiwan Liaison Office had been given a reasonable six months to make the move.
Daily Maverick has, in the past, reported on articles in Taiwanese media that Taiwan had threatened retaliation to the government’s move, including suspending educational exchanges, tightening up on visas for South Africans and demanding that SA move its office in Taiwan out of the capital, Taipei.
DA spokesperson on international relations Emma-Louise Powell noted in a previous statement that the bilateral framework between SA and Taiwan that permitted Taiwan trade and consular representation in both Pretoria and Cape Town, had been in place for 26 years and she saw no reason for this to change.
“The ANC no longer enjoys an outright majority, and as such, is no longer at liberty to unilaterally determine SA’s foreign policy positions without consulting its partners in government.
“SA exports $540m in coal, $180m in grain and $180m in automobiles to Taiwan annually. It is critical that Taiwan continues to enjoy consular and trade representation on the same basis that it has done since 1998. Should the national executive wish to renegotiate the terms of this bilateral agreement, consensus must first be sought within the government of national unity.”
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