TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The South African government is willing to discuss the dispute about the location of Taiwan’s representative office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Tuesday (Oct. 29).
South Africa wants Taiwan to move the “Taipei Liaison Office” out of the capital Pretoria to the business center Johannesburg by the end of October. The demand has been widely seen as the result of pressure from China.
Taiwan condemned the request as a unilateral breach of a framework signed with South Africa in 1997. As a result of widespread concern, the South African government said it would use official communication channels to discuss future bilateral relations, MOFA said Tuesday.
While the statement did not mention the representative office, MOFA said it did not believe South Africa would take action against the mission before the talks reached a consensus, per Radio Taiwan International. MOFA’s Director-General of the Department of West Asian and African Affairs Anthony Ho (賀忠義) called in South African envoy Graham Anderson again on Monday (Oct. 28) to express concern.
MOFA Spokesperson Jeff Liu (劉永健) said that as a member of the G20 group of nations, South Africa is unlikely to interfere with the Taiwan office as long as no consensus is reached. Taiwan will listen to South Africa’s views on a basis of equality and respect, and announce to the public when progress has been made, said Liu.