South Africa Asks Taiwan to Relocate de Facto Embassy out of the Capital

A general view of the Pretoria skyline with smog in the air taken from the Union Buildings in Pretoria, South Africa, on June 19, 2024. Phill Magakoe/Pool via Reuters

Taiwan has been asked to move its de facto embassy out of Pretoria, South Africa’s government confirmed on Friday following accusations that it was bowing to pressure from Beijing.

In a statement published on Friday, South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said Taiwan’s Liaison Office will be rebranded as a Trade Office, and that it will relocate from the South African capital of Pretoria to Johannesburg, which the department called the country’s economic hub.

DIRCO said because South Africa has no formal diplomatic tie with Taiwan, the move was to “correct this anomaly” of having the Taiwan office in the capital city. The new arrangement “will be a true reflection of the non-political and non-diplomatic nature of the relationship between the Republic of South Africa and Taiwan.”

The department also said the Taipei Liaison Office had been given six months to move.

Taiwan’s semi-official wire service, the Central News Agency, said the Taipei Liaison Office was told on Oct. 7 to move out of the capital by the end of October or be shut down.

South Africa severed its diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1998 to establish formal relations with communist-ruled mainland China.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said Taiwan and South Africa has since maintained good relations in areas including trade, education, and science. However, warming relations between Pretoria and Beijing were posing a challenge to Taiwan’s relationship with South Africa.

“If the South African government still insists on submitting to China and changing the status quo ... the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will ... study and formulate all possible responses in order to safeguard the sovereignty and dignity of our country,” it said in a statement.

The Chinese regime welcomed the South African ministry’s move.

“We appreciate South Africa’s correct decision to relocate the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa out of Pretoria, the administrative capital,” said China’s foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.

Taiwan, or the Republic of China, is the continuation of an exiled power that controlled mainland China before the communist takeover in 1949.

Taipei no longer seeks control over mainland China, but absorbing Taiwan remains one of Beijing’s top goals.

While Beijing does not rule out annexing Taiwan by force, and has continuously patrolled or held military exercises around the island, some observers believe a military invasion is a less likely scenario.

In a report published earlier this month, Washington-based research institute the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said that while decision-makers are focusing on the “most dangerous” scenarios, such as a military invasion or a blockade, the “most strategic and logical approach” for the Chinese Communist Party to realize its goal of annexing Taiwan is a “cyber-enabled economic coercion campaign.”

Reuters contributed to this report.