The South African government has expressed willingness to negotiate over relocating the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa out of Pretoria, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told a news conference yesterday.
The ministry earlier this month confirmed that the South African government unilaterally demanded that the office be moved out of the administrative capital before today.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Monday last week said that Taipei would not move the office, as the South African government’s unilateral demand contravened an agreement it signed with Taiwan in 1997.
Photo: CNA
Lin, who is visiting Taiwan’s allies in Central America and the Caribbean, has been paying close attention to the issue, and had instructed the office to continue negotiating with the South African government under the principles of equity and dignity, providing continuous consular services, and ensuring the office employees’ personal safety, ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) told the news conference.
The minister also instructed Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Anthony Ho (賀忠義) to meet with Graham Anderson, Representative of the Liaison Office of South Africa in Taiwan, on Monday, to again express Taipei’s stance and solemn concerns, Liu said.
With the continuous efforts of the ministry and the office in Pretoria, as well as many people who expressed concern over the issue, the South African government has expressed to the office in Pretoria that it is willing to negotiate on the issue through official channels of communication, he said.
“The ministry also believes and urges the South African government, a G20 member nation, not to take any coercive measures or other actions that might interfere with the [Pretoria] liaison office’s operation and consular services, before a consensus is reached through mutual negotiation and discussions,” he said.
Taipei, under the principles of equity and dignity, would continue to exchange ideas with the South African government to understand its thoughts on the relationship between the two sides, he added.
Asked about Taiwan not being invited to the 29th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP29) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Azerbaijan next month, Liu said that “excluding Taiwan’s participation is a loss to the world.”
“The impact of climate change affects everyone, with no one spared, so the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement mechanisms established in response to climate change should not leave out Taiwan for any political reason,” he said, urging countries to support Taiwan’s participation this year.
Taipei and New Taipei City government officials are aiming to have the first phase of the Wanhua-Jungho-Shulin Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) line completed and opened by 2027, following the arrival of the first train set yesterday. The 22km-long Light Green Line would connect four densely populated districts in Taipei and New Taipei City: Wanhua (萬華), Jhonghe (中和), Tucheng (土城) and Shulin (樹林). The first phase of the project would connect Wanhua and Jhonghe districts, with Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall and Chukuang (莒光) being the terminal stations. The two municipalities jointly hosted a ceremony for the first train to be used
MILITARY AID: Taiwan has received a first batch of US long-range tactical missiles ahead of schedule, with a second shipment expected to be delivered by 2026 The US’ early delivery of long-range tactical ballistic missiles to Taiwan last month carries political and strategic significance, a military source said yesterday. According to the Ministry of National Defense’s budget report, the batch of military hardware from the US, including 11 sets of M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and 64 MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile Systems, had been scheduled to be delivered to Taiwan between the end of this year and the beginning of next year. However, the first batch arrived last month, earlier than scheduled, with the second batch —18 sets of HIMARS, 20 MGM-140 missiles and 864 M30
Representative to the US Alexander Yui delivered a letter from the government to US president-elect Donald Trump during a meeting with a former Trump administration official, CNN reported yesterday. Yui on Thursday met with former US national security adviser Robert O’Brien over a private lunch in Salt Lake City, Utah, with US Representative Chris Stewart, the Web site of the US cable news channel reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. “During that lunch the letter was passed along, and then shared with Trump, two of the sources said,” CNN said. O’Brien declined to comment on the lunch, as did the Taipei
A woman who allegedly attacked a high-school student with a utility knife, injuring his face, on a Taipei metro train late on Friday has been transferred to prosecutors, police said yesterday. The incident occurred near MRT Xinpu Station at about 10:17pm on a Bannan Line train headed toward Dingpu, New Taipei City police said. Before police arrived at the station to arrest the suspect, a woman surnamed Wang (王) who is in her early 40s, she had already been subdued by four male passengers, one of whom was an off-duty Taipei police officer, police said. The student, 17, who sustained a cut about