Taiwan may halt S. Africa cooperation over office relocation: Source (update)

Taipei, March 19 (CNA) Taiwan is considering suspending all official cooperation projects and imposing stricter visa controls should the South African government follow through with its demand that Taiwan's representative office relocate, a diplomatic source told CNA Wednesday.

According to a diplomatic source who spoke to CNA on condition of anonymity, Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has asked the ministry to come up with all possible reciprocal countermeasures amid a yearlong dispute that has seen Taiwan's representatives ordered to leave South Africa's administrative capital, Pretoria, and change its name to a trade office.

Potential countermeasures include stricter visa rules for South African travelers to Taiwan, suspending all bilateral exchanges, and even retaliatory economic and trade measures, the source told CNA.

It is also considering halting a yearslong project allowing South African nationals to come to Taiwan for training sessions, the source added. The source, however, did not disclose exactly what kind of training programs South Africans have been undergoing in Taiwan.

The source also did not disclose what the retaliatory economic and trade measures might be.

These countermeasures are being prepared in response to the South African government's "malicious sabotaging" of a 1997 bilateral agreement that allowed the Taipei office to operate in Pretoria following the ending of official diplomatic ties in 1998, the source added.

The controversy arose in 2024 when the South African government sought to downgrade the representative office and recategorize it as a "trade office" based in the commercial capital Johannesburg.

South Africa originally set the end of October as the deadline for Taiwan to change the name of its representative office and relocate. It later extended the deadline to before the end of March.

In the latest twist to the dispute, South Africa unilaterally changed the Taipei office's name in early March.

The update to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) website now lists the "Taipei Liaison Office" as the "Taipei Commercial Office."

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the unilateral change of the office's name, calling for talks between the two sides to come up with mutually acceptable solutions to the issue.

In an English-language statement on Sunday, MOFA said both sides were currently exchanging views "on the possibility of amending the content of the legal framework governing their bilateral relations," referring to the 1997 agreement.

Taiwan has urged South Africa to "accelerate talks on details regarding formal negotiations, such as the location, time, composition of the delegation, and method of signing an agreement."

MOFA has accused China of being behind the South African government's decision to ask the Taipei office to relocate and rename, citing the United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 and the "one-China principle."

Resolution 2758 was adopted by the 26th U.N. General Assembly in 1971 to address the issue of China's representation in the world body and resulted in the Republic of China, Taiwan's official name, losing its seat at the U.N. to the People's Republic of China (PRC).

After South Africa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1998, the latter established a representative office in Pretoria under the name Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa. Taiwan also has a branch office in Cape Town called the Taipei Liaison Office in Cape Town.

South Africa also has a liaison office in Taipei.

Also Wednesday, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), the de facto U.S. embassy in Taiwan, told CNA that it is "disappointed" over the South African government's reported decision to rename the Taipei office.

An AIT spokesperson praised Taiwan as a "reliable, likeminded, and democratic partner," saying that Taiwan's relationships around the world provide "significant benefits to the citizens of those countries."

The unnamed spokesperson also criticized China for its enhanced efforts "trying to isolate Taiwan from the international community and constrain the sovereign choices of other countries regarding their interactions with Taiwan, including by pressuring countries to sever or downgrade ties with Taiwan."

AIT represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic ties.