South African officials have asked that in-person negotiations be conducted next month regarding the future of Taiwan’s representative office in the nation, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The South African government in October last year asked Taiwan to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office — the nation’s de facto embassy — out of Pretoria by the end of that month.
It later pushed the deadline back by five months to the end of March.
Photo: Bloomberg
On July 21, it renamed and downgraded Taiwan’s main representative office in Pretoria and branch office in Cape Town.
The ministry has protested the relocation proposal, citing a 1997 bilateral agreement that allows the Taipei office to operate in Pretoria.
The ministry called for talks between the two sides for a new agreement, but no negotiations have yet been held.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Oct. 16 told the Legislative Yuan that the ministry was reviewing a new arrangement proposed by the South African government in September.
Department of West Asian and African Affairs Director-General Yen Chia-liang (顏嘉良) told a news conference at the ministry in Taipei yesterday that the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) in September proposed an in-person meeting last month to negotiate the issue.
“However, considering that the G20 summit was in South Africa last month, we suggested moving the meeting to next month,” Yen said, adding that DIRCO was considering the suggestion.
The ministry would continue to negotiate with DIRCO on the matter and looks forward to holding bilateral discussions next year under the premise of equality and mutual dignity, he said.
In related news, ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said China was “again distorting the facts” by claiming that Taiwan has no president.
In Beijing on Monday, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian (林劍) told a news conference that “Taiwan is a province of China and there is no such thing as president” when referring to President William Lai (賴清德).
Lin also criticized Japanese lawmakers for visiting Taiwan.
Hsiao said that China was “again distorting the facts” by claiming Taiwan has no president.
“As a country with sovereignty, the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other,” he said.
Only Taiwan’s government directly elected by Taiwanese can represent its 23 million people in the international society and interact with other countries, and China has no say in this, Hsiao said.
Lai met with Japanese guests on Monday, with many people witnessing the meeting via the media, he said.
“It is precisely because the existence of its president and government that Taiwan can continue to boost its self-defense capabilities and resilience in the face of China’s consistent military intimidation and political coercion against it,” Hsiao said.
Facing China’s frequent military actions and “gray zone” provocations, Lai has explicitly said that Taiwan is to uphold its commitment to protect freedom and peace, continue to improve national security, and demonstrate its self-defense determination, he added.
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