In a sign of the expansion international influence of China, South Africa has downgraded the status of the Taiwan liaison office in the country, further decreasing the diplomatic imprint of the democratic island, according to experts.
South Africa has broken the official diplomatic links with Taiwan in 1997 and recognized Beijing as the Government of China. But in nearly three decades, he kept unofficial links with Taipei and a commercial relationship.
However, it is recently moved to reduce Taiwan's unofficial status in the country. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation of South Africa now classifies the Taiwan liaison office – which works as a de facto embassy but without official diplomatic status – as a “Taipei commercial office” on its official website, and has deleted the name of the Taiwanese representative Oliver Liao by virtue of the list.
Friday, the Taiwanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lin Chia-Lung, accused China of putting pressure on South Africa to bring changes. He said the liaison office had asked for negotiations with the South African government on this subject.
Analysts have declared to Radio Free Asia that changes highlight the continuous efforts of China to use its influence in Africa and in world South – a diverse whole of countries across Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East – in order to prevent Taiwan from obtaining international recognition and harming its ability to pursue its diplomatic interests abroad.
“Taiwan's representative offices are his way of making his voice diplomatically heard, faced with the decline of official recognition. But the deep pockets and the military aggression of China have left a mark on the smaller and developing nations, “said Anushka Saxena, Chinese analyst at Bengaluru, a reflection group in India, Takshashila Institution.
China claims that Taiwan as part of its territory and maintains that the Auto-Strict Island is not entitled to independent diplomatic relations.
As it stands, Taiwan retains official links with only a dozen countries, mainly smaller and less developed countries. In this context, even the nominal changes of recognition by foreign governments send a strong signal to Taipei.
Last October, the South African government announced that the Taiwan liaison office would be “renamed” as a commercial office and said the same change would be made for the South African liaison office in Taipei.
As part of its registration section for foreign representation on the website, the South African government now shows that the address of the Taiwan liaison office as in the economic center of the Johannesburg country, and not the Pretoria administrative capital, although the Taiwanese Minister of Foreign Affairs said Friday that it continues to operate normally in Pretoria.
South Africa last October described the relocation of the capital's office as “a real reflection of the non -political and non -diplomatic nature of the relationship between the Republic of South Africa and Taiwan.”
The office email address is also modified in the list of the South African government of the Official domain name of @ mofa.gov.tw to a South African telecommunications supplier, @ Telkomsa.net.
Analysts considered the measures taken by South Africa as predictable despite Taiwan's attempts to engage in dialogue to solve the problem.
“This was part of China's current mission to reduce Taiwan's international space, so it is not surprising that talks have passed despite Taiwan's persistence,” Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation of Taiwan-Asia told RFA Sana Hashmi.
South Africa is an important diplomatic player and the largest economy in Africa – a continent where China has built economic and security ties in the past two or more decades. South Africa should also accommodate the group of group of 20, or G-20, the nations of this year.
The links between China and South Africa have been considerably strengthened since the two formal relations established in 1998. China is now the largest trading partner in South Africa. In 2024, their bilateral trade was $ 52.4 billion compared to the trade in South Africa in Taiwan which reached an average of around $ 2 billion per year.
As a member of the BRICS, an intergovernmental organization made up of 10 countries, South Africa also collaborates with China on economic, political and development initiatives, aligning with Beijing on world governance reforms.
Song Guocheng, a researcher at the Center for International Relations Research at the National University of Chengchi, said that China uses both incentive and pressure tactics in South Africa with a series of measures against Taiwan which could possibly peak in more drastic measures, including closure or expulsion.
“It is possible that under pressure from the CCP, it takes a more authoritarian approach to Taiwan,” Song told RFA, referring to the Chinese Communist Party.
While Taiwan is looking for negotiations with South Africa, analysts say it has little lever. The Taiwan government should rather focus on expanding its economic interdependence with its partners in the economies of South and Southeast Asia and on the construction of links with countries that can contribute to deterrence and its defense, they said.
On Tuesday, President Lai Ching-Te, who was nicknamed “separatist” by Beijing, marked the completion of his first year in power, which was marked by increasing military pressure against the island.
He said Taiwan wanted peace and is ready to indulge in talks with China, as long as there is a “mutual dignity”, the dialogue replacing the confrontation.
Edited by Mat Pennington.