US senators and representatives this week criticized the South African government for bowing to China’s will and urged it to renounce its “misguided action” to order an “unnegotiable” relocation of Taiwan’s representative office from Pretoria to Johannesburg.
“I call on South Africa and [South African] Minister [of International Relations and Cooperation] Ronald Lamola to reverse this misguided action, reevaluate their relationship with the CCP [Chinese Communist Party], and return to a true stance of nonalignment,” US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul wrote on X.
McCaul also said that Pretoria’s move is a clear result of CCP coercion and “brazen interference into affairs of other nations.”
Photo: AFP
US Senator Marsha Blackburn on Monday wrote on X that “the United States should not tolerate” South Africa’s collaboration with communist China, urging US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the administration of US President Joe Biden to “make it clear there will be consequences if Pretoria works with the CCP to bully Taiwan.”
“South Africa’s aggression against Taiwan on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party is deeply disturbing and inappropriate,” US Senator Tom Cotton wrote on X.
US Representative Michelle Steel said South Africa should reverse its action, respect “the wonderful people of Taiwan,” and stand up to the CCP’s intimidation campaign.
US Representative Carlos Gimenez said on X that the US Congress rejects South Africa’s “pathetic attempt to bully our dear friend, Taiwan” and urged a full review of US-South African relations for Pretoria’s succumbing to Beijing’s demands.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Monday said there are no plans to relocate the office and that Pretoria’s demands were unreasonable.
The ministry has urged Pretoria on multiple occasions to renounce such decisions that could significantly harm bilateral relations, Lin said.
South Africa on Oct. 7 issued a request via e-mail to Taiwan to move its representative office out of Pretoria, the country’s administrative capital, by the end of this month, adding that the move was “unnegotiable.”
The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation said it had given Taiwan a “reasonable” six-month grace period to conduct the relocation from Pretoria to Johannesburg.
The South African ministry said this was the diplomatic custom, as Taiwan and South Africa severed official diplomatic ties in 1997.
South Africa is not the first country to have asked Taiwan to relocate its representative office. The Nigerian government made a similar demand in 2017 and forcibly evicted Taiwanese representatives and staff from the office in June that year.
Additional reporting by Huang Ching-hsuan
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS