The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday again lodged a protest with South Africa after Pretoria unilaterally downgraded Taiwan’s representative offices and compelled their relocation from its administrative capital.
The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation on Monday announced that Taiwan’s mission to South Africa has been reclassified as an international organization, the ministry wrote in a statement.
Pretoria earlier this year changed the names of Taiwan’s two representative offices from the Taipei Liaison Office to the Taiwan Commercial Office in Johannesburg and Taiwan Commercial Office in Cape Town, with the ministry lodging a protest in March.
ictured in an undated photograph. Photo: Reuters
Taiwan “solemnly protests” Pretoria’s actions regarding the nation’s diplomatic mission, which the latter government justified by citing Beijing’s “one China” principle and an erroneous interpretation of UN Resolution 2758, the ministry said in yesterday’s statement.
Pretoria’s announcement on the nation’s representative office came days after South African Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s visit to China, suggesting Beijing continues to escalate its unjust attacks on Taiwan, it said.
Taiwan expresses its discontent and dissatisfaction over South Africa’s bowing to Chinese pressure, the ministry said.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has instructed the Department of West Asian and African Affairs and Taiwan’s mission to South Africa to lodge Taipei’s protest, it said.
The ministry is preparing retaliatory measures against South Africa and would deploy them if necessary, the ministry said.
Pretoria failed to honor its obligation under a 1997 legal framework to refrain from making changes to the bilateral relationship without Taiwan’s consent, it said.
South Africa, as the host of this year’s G20 summit, is urged to follow the 1997 framework and rectify its mistakes, it said.
Pretoria should not take any coercive measures toward Taiwan’s representative offices before a consensus is reached, or it might disrupt the offices’ operations and consular services, the ministry said.
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