The government is still awaiting a response from South Africa regarding its demand that Taiwan's representative office be relocated from Pretoria and renamed by the end of this month, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today.
Taipei has proposed talks with Pretoria regarding its delegation in the country and is open to potentially signing a new agreement, ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said.
Photo: CNA
However, the South African side has not responded, he added.
The spokesman said that as of this morning, the Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa is operating normally in South Africa's administrative capital, Pretoria.
Last year, the South African government began its push to categorize the Taiwan representative office as a "trade office" and move it from Pretoria to the commercial capital, Johannesburg.
It initially set the deadline as October last year before extending it to the end of this month.
The South African side unilaterally changed the name of the Taipei office on its Department of International Relations and Cooperation Web site from the "Taipei Liaison Office" to the "Taipei Commercial Office" early this month.
The ministry protested the move, calling for talks between the two sides.
Taiwan has accused China of being behind the South African government's decision to ask the Taipei office to relocate and rename, citing UN Resolution 2758 and the "one China" principle.
Resolution 2758 was adopted by the 26th UN General Assembly in 1971 to address the issue of China's representation in the world body.
After South Africa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1998, the latter established a representative office in Pretoria under the name Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa based on a 1997 agreement.
Taiwan also has a branch office in Cape Town called the Taipei Liaison Office.
South Africa also has a liaison office in Taipei based on that deal.
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