TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — South Africa's downgrading of a Taiwan representative office prompted the Ministry of Economic Affairs to respond on Tuesday, announcing export restrictions, including pre-approval for the shipment of 47 categories of goods, such as chips, memory, LEDs, and integrated circuits.

According to Bloomberg, Taiwan's retaliatory move was “unusual” as it rarely uses its dominant position in technology to pressure a country that is closely allied with China. In recent years, South Africa has drawn closer to China, as it describes its ties with Taiwan as non-political.

In 2023, South Africa requested that Taiwan's representative office relocate from the capital city of Pretoria to Johannesburg. It later took a unilateral action of changing the name of the office from the "Taipei Liaison Office" to the "Taipei Commercial Office."  

The downgrade of Taiwan's representative office also comes as South Africa prepares to host the G20 Leaders' Summit in November, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping expected to attend.

Chrispin Phiri, a South African foreign ministry official, reiterated the relationship with Taiwan is non-political and that "South Africa is a significant supplier of platinum group metals, including palladium, which is critical to the global semiconductor industry," per Bloomberg.

The MOEA said the South African government has repeatedly cooperated with China to pressure Taiwan through name changes and downgrades of its representative office, as well as visa delays. It said these actions harm Taiwan's economy and trade.