South Africa asked Taiwan to move its liaison office out of the administrative capital, Pretoria, in order to emphasize the countries’ “non-diplomatic” ties. China claims Taiwan as part of its own territory.
South Africa has asked Taiwan to move its unofficial embassy out of its administrative capital, Pretoria, the South African Foreign Ministry said on Friday.
China claims the self-governing island of Taiwan as part of its own territory. Taiwan’s government is only officially recognized by a dozen countries, while many states maintain informal diplomatic ties with the island.
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South Africa severed formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1997 but maintains informal ties.
China is South Africa’s largest trade partner. Both states are members of the BRICS bloc of developing economies which is set to hold its annual summit next week in the Russian city of Kazan.
The People’s Republic of China which governs the mainland claims Taiwan but the Republic of China which currently only governs Taiwan technically also claims all of the mainland too. The two Chinas are a result of the Chinese Civil War which ended with the communists taking over most of China and the nationalist government effectively being exiled to the island of Taiwan and continuing there.
So if free countries have to pick one or the other to recognize why not choose the ROC which is a free democracy instead of the PRC which is a de facto dictatorship? At the same time it would force the rest of the world to sever its addiction to cheap PRC made goods using what amounts to slave labor meanwhile the ROC makes high quality goods and has a robust STEM workforce that leads the world in industries like computer hardware.
