Taipei, March 19 (CNA) Taiwan is considering suspending all official cooperation projects and imposing stricter visa controls if the South African government complies with the demand that Taiwan's representative offices be relocated.
Foreign Minister Lin Chia-Lung (Lin Jiahong) asked the ministry to come up with all possible mutual measures in the year-long conflict, where he was ordered to leave South Africa's administrative capital, Pretoria, to rename the Trade Bureau, and to come up with all possible mutual measures, according to a diplomatic source who spoke to the CNA on condition of anonymity.
Potential measures include stricter visa rules for South African travelers to Taiwan, suspension of all bilateral exchanges, and even retaliatory economic and trade measures, sources told the CNA.
They are also considering suspending long projects in the year that South Africans can come to Taiwan for training sessions, sources added. However, sources did not disclose exactly what training programs South Africans are receiving in Taiwan.
Sources also did not disclose what the retaliatory economic and trade measures were.
These measures are being prepared in response to the South African government's “malicious obstruction” of the 1997 bilateral agreement that allowed the Taipei office to operate in Pretoria following the end of official diplomatic relations in 1998, sources added.
The controversy came in 2024 when the South African government downgraded its representative office and attempted to reclassify it as the “Bureau of Trade” based in the commercial capital, Johannesburg.
South Africa originally set the end of October as a deadline for renaming and relocating Taiwan's signature offices. The deadline was then extended to the end of March.
In its latest twist on the conflict, South Africa unilaterally changed its Taipei office in early March.
An update to the International Relations and Cooperation Agency (DIRCO) website lists the “Taipei Liaison Office” as the “Taipei Commercial Office.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has protested the unilateral change in the name of the office and called for consultation between the two parties to come up with a mutually acceptable solution to the issue.
In a statement in English on Sunday, Mofa said the two sides were currently exchanging opinions on “the possibility of amending the content of the legal framework governing bilateral relations.”
Taiwan urged South Africa to “accelerate consultations on details of formal negotiations, including the location of the delegation, time, composition of the mandate, and how to sign the contract.”
MOFA cited UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 and the “First Century Principles” to accuse the Taipei office of relocating and renaming it.
Resolution 2758 was adopted at the 26th UN General Assembly in 1971 to address the issue of China's representation in global organizations, causing Taiwan's official name, Republic of China, to lose its seat in the UN People's Republic (PRC).
After South Africa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1998, the latter established a representative office in Pretoria under the name of the Taipei Liaison Bureau of the Republic of South Africa. Taiwan also has a branch in Cape Town, known as the Taipei Liaison Office in Cape Town.
South Africa also has liaison offices in Taipei.
Also on Wednesday, the American Institute of Research in Taiwan (AIT) told the CNA, the de facto US embassy in Taiwan, that it was “disappointing” over the South African government's decision to change the name of its Taipei office.
An AIT spokesperson praised Taiwan as a “trusted, like-minded, democratic partner” and said Taiwan's relations around the world “provides great benefits to the citizens of those countries.”
An unnamed spokesman also criticized China for its strengthened efforts to isolate Taiwan from the international community and constrain other countries' sovereignty choices regarding interaction with Taiwan.
AIT represents the US interests towards Taiwan, without official diplomatic relations.
