In January, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) sent another letter to the Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa (TLO) demanding that it relocate by the end of March.
Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Lin Chia-lung, promptly convened an emergency meeting and requested that the TLO, on the principles of parity and dignity, continue to negotiate with DIRCO, a statement by Taipei said.
The two sides are currently exchanging views on the possibility of amending the content of the legal framework governing their bilateral relations, according to MOFA.
TCS learnt that Taiwan had urged South Africa to accelerate talks on details regarding formal negotiations, such as the location, time, composition of the delegation, and method of signing an agreement.
MOFA said it had closely followed developments and noted that South Africa recently changed the name of the TLO on DIRCO’s official website while bilateral negotiations were still underway and before both sides reached a consensus.
“This violated a 1997 agreement between Taiwan and South Africa. In response, Foreign Minister Lin immediately instructed MOFA’s Department of West Asian and African Affairs and the TLO to lodge solemn protests with the Liaison Office of South Africa in Taipei and DIRCO, respectively,” MOFA said.
It noted that the TLO subsequently issued a note verbale to the South African government formally expressing Taiwan’s stance and reiterating that DIRCO’s citing of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 and South Africa’s “one China policy” in an effort to force the TLO to relocate was unreasonable, unjustifiable, and unacceptable.
The TLO added that South Africa’s collusion with China in attempting to suppress Taiwan violated the spirit of democracy and freedom long advocated by South Africa and called on the South African government to respect the agreement it concluded with Taiwan in 1997.
According to Taipei, the South African government has recently engaged in repeated violations of international norms, attracting the international community’s attention.
This was reflected in recent remarks made by then-South African ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, which the American government deemed unacceptable.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared him persona non grata on March 15.
“MOFA once again solemnly urges the South African government to proactively discuss the relevant details of this matter with Taiwan as soon as possible and not to take any actions that violate the 1997 bilateral agreement before both sides have reached a consensus,” said the Taiwanese government.
