The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) is considering limiting the export of microchips to South Africa, after the nation last week announced a nominal downgrade of two of Taiwan's representative offices without first reaching a bilateral agreement, Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) said today.
The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation did not consult Taiwan before it on Monday last week announced in the Government Gazette that the offices had been renamed as of April 1, he said.
The “Taipei Liaison Office” in Pretoria was relocated from the administrative capital to the commercial capital and renamed as the “Taiwan Commercial Office in Johannesburg,” while the Cape Town liaison office was changed to the “Taiwan Commercial Office in Cape Town.”
Photo: Chen Yi-kuan, Taipei Times
They were further reclassified from missions to international organizations on the department’s Web site.
To protect Taiwan’s national sovereignty and dignity, the ministry is discussing possible countermeasures with relevant government departments, including restricting exports of microchips to South Africa, he said.
The ministry called on the South African government to swiftly re-enter negotiations with Taiwan, although as of yet, it has made no movement to establish an agreement, Yen said.
South Africa has overlooked its long-standing partnership with Taiwan due to ongoing pressure from China, justifying its latest decision by citing Beijing’s “one China” principle and an erroneous interpretation of UN Resolution 2758, which claims that the People’s Republic of China is the only legitimate government of China, Yen said.
The MOFA strongly condemns the name change and unilateral downgrade of the two representative offices, he added.
Negotiations should abide by the bilateral agreement of 1997, he said.
The agreement allowed Taiwan to continue to operate a liaison office in Pretoria after the end of formal diplomatic ties between the two nations in 1998.
South Africa has twice requested that Taiwan move its office from Pretoria to Johannesburg, sending the first e-mail in October last year.
Additional reporting by CNA
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