Taiwan has representative offices in capitals across the globe, despite what Lamola says

5 Dec 2024

It is not ‘the norm’ for only embassies to be located in capitals, as Pretoria insists.

Taiwan has representative offices in most of the major capitals of the world – including Moscow, New Delhi and Brasilia – despite the South African government’s insistence that forcing the Taiwan office in Pretoria to move to Johannesburg “aligns with standard diplomatic practice that capital cities are the seats of Foreign Embassies and High Commissions”.

Taiwan has maintained what it calls the “Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa” in Pretoria since 1997 when South Africa switched diplomatic relations to Beijing. But in December 2023 and then again in April 2024, Pretoria instructed Taiwan to move its office from Pretoria to Johannesburg by the end of October. Taiwan refused, saying this would be a breach of an agreement signed in 1997, and the dispute appears to be at an impasse.

Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for International Relations and Cooperation Minister Ronald Lamola, said in a press statement on 18 October: “Relocating what will be rebranded as Trade Offices both in Taipei and in Johannesburg, which is standard diplomatic practice, will be a true reflection of the non-political and non-diplomatic nature of the relationship between the Republic of South Africa and Taiwan.

“The Trade Office will be appropriately placed in Johannesburg, South Africa’s economic hub. This also aligns with standard diplomatic practice that capital cities are the seats of Foreign Embassies and High Commissions.”

Read more: Diplomatic row looms after SA government demands that Taiwan move its office out of Pretoria

Last month, Lamola himself told Parliament that the South African government had based its decision to move the Taipei Liaison Office out of Pretoria “on the United Nations applicable policy with regards to diplomatic offices and embassies. In this regard, this is not an abnormality. It’s a norm across the globe.”

Lamola elaborated that “in line with the Vienna Convention, only political and diplomatic players should be in the capital”. The 1961 Vienna Convention governs diplomatic relations between countries in considerable detail. However, it is silent on the question of where representative diplomatic offices may or may not be situated in a country. It does not say that “only political and diplomatic players should be in the capital”, or any words to that effect.

Taiwan in other countries

It is also not a norm across the globe, as Lamola said, that only embassies may be located in capital cities. The government of Taiwan has 113 embassies or representative offices in 71 countries, most of which do not recognise Taiwan diplomatically.

Taiwanese officials say that all but one of those offices are in capital cities. The exception is Nigeria which had a similar row with Taiwan in 2017, demanding that it move its official office out of the political capital, Abuja, to the commercial capital, Lagos, which it did. Taiwan retaliated by forcing Nigeria to move its trade office out of Taipei to Banqiao District in New Taipei, as it has also threatened to do to South Africa’s liaison office in Taipei, according to Taiwan media.

Among the capital cities in which Taiwan has representative offices are those of three of South Africa’s – and China’s – BRICS partners: Moscow, New Delhi and Brasilia. Taiwan also has representative offices in the capitals of several other prominent countries of the Global South, including Jakarta, Indonesia; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Hanoi, Vietnam; Bangkok, Thailand; Singapore; Argentina and Manila, Philippines.

And Taiwan has representative offices in Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Japan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, Mexico as well as several European capitals and in Washington D.C. and Ottawa, Canada.

Most of these are called “Taipei economic and cultural” offices or centres. But they perform essentially the same functions as the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa.

Lamola’s position

South Africa broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan in December 1997 so it could switch diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic of China based in Beijing, from 1 January 1998. Under its strict “One-China” policy, Beijing does not allow any country to recognise both itself and Taiwan as it regards Taiwan as a “renegade province” of the People’s Republic and not a country.

Pretoria signed an agreement with Taiwan in 1997 which stipulated that it could maintain its office in Pretoria but under the new name of Taipei Liaison Office and no longer under the name of the Embassy of Taiwan.

In Parliament last month, MP Emma Powell, the DA spokesperson for international relations and cooperation, asked Lamola what had motivated his government to instruct Taiwan to move its office after it had been in Pretoria for more than 26 years.

Lamola denied that his government had come under any pressure to move Taiwan’s office. This was clearly a reference to the suspicion held by Taiwan and others that Beijing demanded that the South African government should evict the Taipei Liaison Office.

Lamola just said Pretoria had made the decision “to remove any lingering ambiguity about the identity of the entity” – the Taipei Liaison Office.

“When democratic South Africa became a member of the UN in 1994 it aligned with international law and the international consensus in terms of adherence to UN resolutions including Resolution 2758 that recognised the People’s Republic of China as the sole legitimate representative of China to the United Nations,” he noted.

Read more: Defiant Taiwan says it won’t bow to SA’s demand to vacate Pretoria office

Lamola said in December 1997 that South Africa had severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan “and continued its non-diplomatic and non-political engagement limited to consular trade, investment, science and technology and education”.

“In January 1998, the South African government signed a memorandum of understanding and establishing diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, committing to the One China policy and recognising that there is one China in the world and that the government of the PRC is the sole legal representative of the whole of China, recognising the People’s Republic of China’s position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, including the region of Tibet, Hong Kong and Macau.”

Lamola then tried to explain the recent shift in policy towards Taiwan by saying: “South Africa’s foreign policy, as outlined in the 2020 framework document on national interests and the 2012 White Paper on Foreign Policy, emphasises the need for periodic reviews of national interests and adaptability in response to global shifts in geopolitics, economic powers, environmental factors and regional security.

“The continual assessment of the international relations environment affords South Africa the opportunity to align its foreign policy with the evolving global landscape, ensuring that its national interests are relevant to the current realities and effectively managing complex international relations aligned with its own national interests.

“In 2016, the South African government reasserted its relationship in Taipei in line with its commitment to the One China policy, relating to its non-political and non-diplomatic engagement.

“It downgraded the level of representation in the liaison office to the level of deputy director in 2017 and reduced the number of transfer officials in 2019.”

Lamola appeared to be referring to a decision, which was evidently not announced at the time, to downgrade the level of the head of “The Liaison Office of South Africa in Taiwan” – the equivalent office of the Taipei Liaison Office in South Africa.

Lamola did not explain what changes in the “evolving global landscape” had prompted South Africa to try to evict Taiwan from Pretoria. He did offer his department’s help in finding new premises in Johannesburg. DM

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Taiwan in other countries

Lamola’s position