Taiwan's diplomatic dilemma: South Africa demands embassy relocation amid Chinese pressure

The South African government has given Taiwan until the end of March to transfer the island’s de facto embassy outside of Pretoria, according to the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry, citing Chinese pressure as the reason for the action.

South Africa terminated official diplomatic connections with Taiwan in 1997 and now only maintains formal - and extremely close - relations with China, which regards the democratically administered island as Chinese territory without the trappings of statehood.

Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry claimed in a statement late on Sunday that South Africa’s government demanded the de facto Taiwanese embassy depart Pretoria by the end of March and “even be renamed as a trade office” in late January.

The demand “shows China’s suppression against us in South Africa is becoming more serious”, it added, saying, however, that negotiations between Taiwan and South Africa were ongoing.

The de facto South African embassy in Taipei did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and neither did China’s Foreign Ministry.

South Africa had previously made a request last year for what is called the Taipei Liaison Office to leave Pretoria.

China is South Africa’s largest trading partner globally and one with which it is looking to expand cooperation in areas such as renewable energy.

Taiwan’s government rejects China’s sovereignty claims and says it has a right to forge ties with other countries.

Taiwan only has formal diplomatic ties with 12 countries, and in Africa it only has a single ally left, Eswatini, which is almost entirely surrounded by South Africa.