South Africa steps up pressure on Taiwan office; minister blames China

Taipei, May 16 (CNA) Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) on Friday accused China of being behind South Africa's latest decision to unilaterally change the contact information of Taiwan's representative office in the African nation.

Speaking to reporters before a news conference in Taipei, Lin alleged that the South African government has been resorting to "little tricks" under Chinese pressure to change the status of Taiwan's office in South Africa since last year.

He said Taiwan would not acknowledge the latest move made by South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), though what that means in practice remains unclear.

Lin's response came after DIRCO recently changed the address of Taiwan's representative office on its website from "Pretoria" to "Johannesburg" and designated it as an "international organization" instead of a "foreign representation in South Africa."

Its domain name was also unilaterally changed from @mofa.gov.tw to @telkomsa.net, a South African telecom company.

DIRCO's latest move came after it changed the name of the Taipei office on its website from the "Taipei Liaison Office" to the "Taipei Commercial Office" in early March.

The South African government has tried to move Taiwan's representative office there out of the administrative capital of Pretoria to the commercial capital of Johannesburg and categorize it as a "trade office" since last year.

It initially set an October 2024 deadline for the move before extending it to the end of March, but Lin said Friday the Taipei Liaison Office continues to operate normally in Pretoria.

On Friday, Lin said Taiwan will continue to interact with the South African government in the hope of holding bilateral consultations on the issue.