Johannesburg — South Africa’s decision to further downgrade relations with Taiwan, comes as the dominant political party, the African National Congress, or ANC, strives to reassure longtime ally Beijing after the formation of a coalition government, analysts tell VOA.
South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation confirmed last week it had asked Taiwan to move its unofficial embassy – called the Taipei Liaison Office – out of the capital Pretoria.
In a statement, the department said the liaison office would be rebranded as a trade office and moved to the economic hub of Johannesburg, which would “be a true reflection of the non-political and non-diplomatic nature of the relationship between the Republic of South Africa and Taiwan.”
“This also aligns with standard diplomatic practice that capital cities are the seats of Foreign Embassies and High Commissions,” the statement said. It said the Taiwanese had been given six months to move.
Like most countries, including the U.S., as well as international bodies like the U.N., South Africa does not officially recognize democratically ruled Taiwan, which China’s communist party considers a breakaway province — to be retaken by force if necessary.
However, Taiwan has had its offices in Pretoria since the late 1990s, which deal with trade and visas. Similar offices in the U.S. and U.K. are both based in those countries’ capitals.
Taiwanese officials told the island’s government-funded Central News Agency, CNA, that they believe South Africa is acting under Chinese pressure, and that they hope the South African government will reconsider. They said they had been directed to move by the end of October.
Officials from the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs also said they would consider reciprocal measures should South Africa insist. Those could include asking South Africa to move its own offices out of Taipei, stricter visas for South Africans, and the suspension of educational exchanges, CNA reported.
For its part, China welcomed the move.
“We commend South Africa’s right decision to move the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa outside the administrative capital Pretoria,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning. “’Taiwan independence’ finds no support from the people and will only fail.”
Political change
Paul Nantulya, a political analyst with the Africa Center for Strategic Studies in Washington, told VOA he thought there were several reasons for South Africa’s decision.
In May, the most pivotal elections since the end of apartheid 30 years ago saw the ANC lose their absolute majority for the first time. The liberation party — which had Chinese support during its fight against white minority rule — was forced to form a Government of National Unity with opposition parties that did not necessarily share its relationship to Beijing or its foreign policy objectives.
The ANC has been at pains to “reassure the Chinese side that relations between the ANC and the CCP would continue, regardless of the drastically changed political environment in South Africa,” Nantulya said.
“So we’ve seen the ANC really, really pushing to preserve that relationship, to persuade the Chinese that it is still a reliable partner,” he said.
A South African delegation that went to a major China-Africa forum in Beijing last month included members of the Democratic Alliance, or DA, which used to be South Africa’s main opposition but has since joined the ANC in the unity government.
The DA had been critical of South Africa’s close relations with China in the past, chastising China over human rights and expressing support for Taiwan.
However, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said after the forum that one of his ministers “who initially was not so well disposed to [the] one-China policy, having visited China for the very first time… publicly said that he now subscribes and embraces a one China policy.”
“And President Xi Jinping was rather pleased with that,” said Ramaphosa, who did not name the minister but was widely believed to be referring to DA leader John Steenhuisen.
Under pressure
However, after last week’s announcement that South Africa had ordered Taiwan to move its liaison office, the DA put out a statement expressing concern.
“We have not been provided with any motivation that justifies a unilateral change to the terms of our bilateral framework with Taiwan,” the DA said.
“It is clear that pressure is being brought to bear on Pretoria by external actors in the context of both broader geopolitical tensions, and the newly formed Government of National Unity (GNU),” the statement added.
For decades Chinese pressure on the African continent to adhere to the One-China policy has yielded results. Now only one country in the region supports Taiwan: the small kingdom of Eswatini.
“What we are seeing is China flexing its might and actually pushing… one could say they are bullying African countries towards not recognizing Taiwan,” Sanele Sibiya, an economics lecturer at the University of Eswatini, told VOA.
Sibiya noted South Africa was not the first country to push Taiwanese officials out of its capital.
Another African economic powerhouse, Nigeria, ordered Taiwan to move out of the capital Abuja in 2017, reportedly under pressure from China. The office was moved to economic hub Lagos, despite protests from Taipei.
China is Africa’s biggest trade partner and has invested heavily in the continent since the advent of Xi’s global infrastructure policy the Belt and Road Initiative over a decade ago. At the September forum Xi pledged $51 billion in funding to Africa.
Recently, China has been flexing its muscles regarding Taiwan. Last week it deployed fighter jets and warships to encircle the island as part of military drills that were condemned by the U.S. as “disproportionate.”
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