Taiwan Pushes Back Against South Africa Representative Office Eviction

TaiwanPlus News

Taiwan's foreign ministry is fighting back against an order from the South African government to move its office out of the administrative capital, Pretoria, and to Johannesburg.

Transcript

00:00Fighting an eviction notice, Taiwan's foreign ministry is insisting on its right to keep

00:05its representative office in South Africa's administrative capital, Pretoria.

00:09In October, the South African government requested that the office move to Johannesburg, its

00:13largest city.

00:15Diplomats and foreign policy experts say China is likely behind the decision.

00:20It's an all-too-familiar move.

00:21Although most countries have cut formal ties with Taiwan, Beijing is still irritated by

00:25Taipei's efforts to maintain informal ties.

00:29And in this case, Taiwan's foreign ministry is standing firm against the request.

00:33After we received a document from South Africa on October 7, Foreign Minister Lin Kyalong

00:39and the Asia-Pacific Division Director-General were summoned to represent South Africa to

00:43express their opposition, dissatisfaction and opposition to the government's decision.

00:47Taiwan's foreign ministry is getting support from some of the country's closest unofficial

00:51allies, including the U.S. and Japan.

00:54Republican U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn called for the U.S. government to impose trade barriers

00:58on South Africa for working with the Chinese Communist Party to bully Taiwan.

01:03The Taiwan-Japan Exchange Association also received advice from Japan and the U.S. but

01:08did not provide specifics.

01:10And South African political parties like the IFP are also protesting their government's

01:15decision.

01:16The IFP is concerned by the impact such action will have on the bilateral framework South

01:25Africa has enjoyed with Taiwan for the past 26 years.

01:31South Africa switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to China in 1997, but signed an agreement

01:36allowing Taipei to keep an office in Pretoria.

01:40It's typical practice for Taiwan to keep offices in the capitals of countries that it does

01:43not have official diplomatic relations with.

01:46The diplomatic space of the non-Pacific countries is very large.

01:51We should be able to use our economic and trade strength to negotiate with other countries.

01:56The foreign ministry has said they haven't ruled out forcing South Africa to move its

02:00own representative office out of Taipei.

02:02But with only a week left to negotiate before Pretoria says it'll shut Taiwan's de facto

02:07embassy down, Taipei might be left with no other choice than to move out.

02:12Patrick Chen and Tiffany Wong for Taiwan Plus.

02:16For more UN videos visit www.un.org

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