Six Republican members of the US House of Representatives have sent a letter to US President Donald Trump calling on Washington to revoke South Africa’s duty-free access to the US market and suspend diplomatic engagement over its demand that Taiwan move its liaison office from the administrative capital.
US representatives Andy Ogles, Tom Tiffany, Don Bacon, Joe Wilson, Randy Weber and Brandon Gill in the letter published on Tuesday cited South Africa’s “self-abasing advocacy” of the Chinese Communist Party, in addition to alleged human rights abuses and corruption, as being contrary to US national interests.
“The Republic of South Africa is in apparent need of a reminder of what happens when American interests are marginalized,” the letter said.
Photo: Screen grab from Google Maps
In October last year, several members of Congress wrote a letter to then-US president Joe Biden urging him to confront South Africa over the nation’s demand for Taiwan to relocate its representative office out of Pretoria, the letter said.
Although the South African government agreed to delay the relocation demand, it has renewed its request “at the behest of the People’s Republic of China [PRC],” it said.
Last month, South Africa’s government sent a letter to the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa demanding a move by the end of this month and announcing plans to downgrade it to a “trade office.”
“The PRC’s unabashed global commitment to Taiwan’s diplomatic marginalization, if successful, would provide every reason for the PRC to commit to an invasion of the island. This would be contrary to our national interest and the interests of those who prioritize peace over conflict,” the letter said.
If Trump were to follow the lawmakers’ recommendation, South Africa would lose preferential access to export duty-free goods to the US, among other trade privileges it has under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has rejected South Africa’s unilateral decision to close the office and said it violates previous bilateral agreements.
It vowed to “continue to communicate with the South African government based on the principles of equality and dignity.”
Other US, UK and French lawmakers have also criticized South Africa’s decision.
STAY AWAY: An official said people should avoid disturbing snakes, as most do not actively attack humans, but would react defensively if threatened Taitung County authorities yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant and avoid disturbing snakes in the wild, following five reported snakebite cases in the county so far this year. Taitung County Fire Department secretary Lin Chien-cheng (林建誠) said two of the cases were in Donghe Township (東河) and involved the Taiwan habus, one person was bit by a Chinese pit viper near the South Link Railway and the remaining two were caused by unidentified snakes. He advised residents near fields to be cautious of snakes hiding in shady indoor areas, especially when entering or leaving their homes at night. In case of a
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
RSS