(Bloomberg) — South Africa has told Taiwan to move its de facto embassy out of its administrative capital at the urging of China, according to a Foreign Ministry official in Taipei — highlighting Beijing’s expanding sway among developing nations.
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Taiwan got the ultimatum to relocate the office to Johannesburg from Pretoria on Oct. 7, according to the official, who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive matter. South Africa wants the change to happen by the end of the month, the person added.
South Africa started asking Taiwan to make the switch in December 2023 after a BRICS summit it hosted, the official said on Thursday, referring to an event that Chinese leader Xi Jinping attended earlier that year.
South Africa’s decision marks a significant victory for Xi both to diplomatically isolate Taiwan and to use the BRICS grouping to become more influential around the world. Beijing has pushed to expand the bloc, seeing it as a forum to challenge the US’s dominance in global affairs.
Membership in BRICS can get smaller nations in the Global South, a term for developing nations, easier access to financing and Chinese infrastructure projects.
The episode involving South Africa illustrates the range of tactics China uses to pressure Taiwan, which it has vowed to bring under its control someday, by force if necessary. As part of the isolation drive, Beijing tries to peel off Taipei’s few remaining allies like Nauru, which made the switch in January right after Taiwan elected Lai Ching-te as its president.
Taiwan usually opens what it calls “economic and cultural offices” or “representative offices” instead of official embassies in nations that have official ties with China. Beijing appears to want to diminish the importance of those missions by getting them moved outside political capitals.
China is profoundly suspicious of Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party he belongs to because it views them as trying to formalize Taiwan’s independence. This week, Beijing ordered intense military drills around Taiwan in what it said was a warning against “separatism.”
China has indicated those maneuvers will resume whenever it is “provoked.” The US and Japan said they voiced their concerns to Beijing about the activity by its armed forces.
The official in Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said that current Chinese ambassador Wu Peng and his predecessor, Chen Xiaodong, have worked to convince South Africa to have Taiwan move the de facto embassy.
In response, Taiwan may tell South Africa to relocate its representative office out of Taipei, the official said. Other steps could include tightening the visa application process for South Africans and cutting the number of English teachers from the nation.
In 2018, Taiwan forced Nigeria to move it representative office outside central Taipei after it had to relocate its de facto embassy to Lagos from Abuja.
Taiwan has tried to counter Beijing’s isolation campaign by expanding ties with democracies around the world. Lai’s predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, made that a main feature of her foreign policy, building relations with the US, Japan and nations in Europe.
She’s now visiting Europe, making stops in the Czech Republic, France and Belgium, where she stopped at the European Parliament. In the coming weeks, she’s also reportedly planning to travel to the US, which supports Taiwan military, economically and politically.
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