One of the 10 political parties in South Africa’s unity government on Friday voiced support for Taiwan after the government unilaterally ordered it to relocate its diplomatic liaison office away from the capital of Pretoria.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) party “notes with concern that the [South African] Department of International Relations and Cooperation [DIRCO] has requested the Taipei Liaison Office to leave Pretoria,” party international relations spokesperson Emma Louise Powell said in a statement.
In the 26 years since the severance of official ties between Taiwan and South Africa, a bilateral framework has been in place to enable Taiwan to enjoy consular and trade representation in Pretoria and Cape Town, Powell said.
The South African government, a 10-party coalition headed by the African National Congress (ANC), ordered Taiwan to relocate its representative office in Pretoria before the end of this month.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday said the decree came after pressure from China.
Meanwhile, Powell questioned why the order was given.
“While the DA acknowledges South Africa’s long-standing interpretation of UN Resolution 2758, which aligns with the recognition of ‘one China,’ we have not been provided with any motivation that justifies a unilateral change to the terms of our bilateral framework with Taiwan,” Powell said. “It is clear that pressure is being brought to bear on Pretoria by external actors in the context of both broader geopolitical tensions and the newly formed Government of National Unity [GNU].”
The GNU was established earlier this year after the ANC lost its parliamentary majority in South Africa’s elections in May. The ANC had held a majority since 1994 and was forced to form a coalition government with nine other parties. The DA, which was previously South Africa’s main opposition party, was second in the May polls, with 87 of the 400 seats in Parliament, while the ANC had 159.
“The ANC no longer enjoys an outright majority… and as such, are no longer at liberty to unilaterally determine South Africa’s foreign policy positions without consulting their partners in government,” Powell said.
Powell added that as a sovereign democracy, South Africa should oppose outside influences shaking its commitment to its policy of non-alignment.
The DIRCO on Friday also issued a statement that said it “notes with concern the mischaracterization of its engagements with the Taipei Liaison Office.”
Due to a lack of political and diplomatic ties since 1997, and its adherence to UN Resolution 2758, moving and rebranding the de facto Taiwanese embassy is “standard diplomatic practice,” DIRCO said.
The move would be “a true reflection of the non-political and non-diplomatic nature of the relationship between the Republic of South Africa and Taiwan,” the DIRCO statement said.
“We appreciate South Africa’s correct decision to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa out of Pretoria, the administrative capital,” Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) said in response to the move.
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