Taiwan says South Africa gives March deadline to move office from Pretoria

By Reuters

The South African government has given Taiwan a deadline of the end of March to relocate the island’s de facto embassy outside of the capital city Pretoria, the Taiwanese Foreign Ministry said, blaming Chinese pressure for the move.

South Africa severed official diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1997 and only maintains formal – and very close – relations with China, which views the democratically governed island as Chinese territory with no right to the trappings of a state.

In a statement, Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said South Africa’s government had sent a letter in late January demanding the de facto Taiwanese embassy leave Pretoria before the end of March and “even be renamed as a trade office”.

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