PRETORIA
The South African government has again asked Taiwan to relocate its representative office out of Pretoria, the diplomatic capital of South Africa, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said.
The South African government last month “again sent a letter to our representative office in South Africa, demanding that our office move out of the capital Pretoria by the end of March this year,” the Foreign Ministry in Taipei said in a statement on Sunday night.
The statement pointed out that the South African government tried to “downgrade our (Taiwan) office and rename it a trade office” and has asked Taipei to relocate its representative office by the end of March.
South Africa had earlier ordered Taiwan to move the office from Pretoria by the end of last October and had threatened to close it if Taipei did not comply.
China and South Africa last year upgraded their relationship to an “all-round strategic cooperative partnership.”
Beijing had lauded South Africa for pushing Taiwan’s representative office out of Pretoria, calling it a “correct decision” to move Taipei’s office.
The ministry said China sanctioned Ivan Meyer, chief of South Africa’s second largest party, the Democratic Alliance “for visiting Taiwan.”
Meyer was sanctioned last month after Beijing accused him of violating the “one-China principle” and interfering in China’s internal affairs.
Beijing’s sanctions include bans on Meyer and his family traveling to mainland China, Hong Kong, and Macau, as well as having any business dealings with Chinese entities.
China claims Taiwan as its “breakaway province,” and expects its diplomatic allies to have no official contact with Taipei.
