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In the latest sign of China’s growing influence in the Global South, South Africa has told Taiwan to move its de facto embassy from the capital.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that it has been ordered to move its embassy from Pretoria to Johannesburg by the end of this month.
South Africa and China strengthened ties when President Xi Jinping visited Africa for the BRICS summit in August last year. And when South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Beijing this year for the China-Africa Cooperation Forum summit, he reiterated his country’s adherence to the “one China” principle.
This principle is the basis of diplomatic relations with China and affirms that there is only one sovereign state, China, and that Taiwan is a part of it. Countries that accept this principle cannot have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Four months after Xi’s visit, South Africa requested Taiwan for the first time to relocate its embassy, a Taiwanese official told Bloomberg. They claimed that Chinese diplomats were pressuring South Africa to move its embassy to Taipei.
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung was working on countermeasures against the South African mission in Taipei, CNA news agency reported. He could ask South Africa to move its offices from Taipei, impose stricter visa rules on South African travelers and end bilateral educational exchanges.
Taipei could instead prioritize hiring teachers from the Kingdom of Eswatini, its only diplomatic ally in Africa.
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Mr. Xi Jinping and Mr. Cyril Ramaphosa (EPA) in Pretoria, South Africa in 2023
Taiwan has accused China of using its growing economic power to poach diplomatic allies and pressure countries to sever or downgrade ties with Taipei in favor of China, which considers Taipei to be its sovereign territory. are.
Taipei sees these moves as part of China’s aggressive strategy to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty and further diminish its presence on the world stage.
Since the Pacific island of Nauru recognized China earlier this year, Taiwan now has just 12 formal diplomatic allies. Taipei has lost 10 diplomatic allies in the past eight years.
South Africa severed formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1998.
In 2017, Nigeria told Taiwan to move its mission out of the capital, cut staff and drop “Republic of China” from the country’s name under pressure from Beijing. Later, China praised Nigeria for supporting the “one China” principle.
In response, Taiwan forced Nigeria to move its representative office outside Taipei and twice summoned the African country’s acting trade chief to express concerns that the move would harm Taiwan’s interests.
In a diplomatic boost, Taiwan this week opened its third office in India, the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in Mumbai. In response, China lodged a diplomatic protest with India, stating that it “strongly opposes all forms of official contacts and exchanges between Taiwan and India.”
