The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) suspended a pending export control measure on chips to South Africa after the Pretoria government agreed to hold talks over a year-long dispute concerning Taiwan’s office in the country.
Tensions between the two countries had escalated when Taiwan announced that, starting from late November, it would implement new export controls requiring prior approval for 47 products — including ICs and chips — destined for South Africa.
Taiwan planned the move as a countermeasure in response to the repeated renaming and downgrading of its representative offices in South Africa. Believing that the step was taken under Chinese pressure, Taipei sought to deliver a strong message to Pretoria.
However, the decision was suspended after South Africa expressed willingness to engage in discussions with Taiwan over the office dispute.
NAMING CRISIS TURNS INTO A MAJOR ISSUE
Last year, the South African government unilaterally began to classify the “Taipei Liaison Office” in Pretoria as a “trade office” and sought to relocate it from the administrative capital to Johannesburg, the commercial capital.
The original deadline was set for October last year, later extended to the end of March. Taiwan strongly objected to the move and called for talks.
South Africa, however, ignored these calls for months. In early March, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation unilaterally changed the name of the Taipei office on its website from “Taipei Liaison Office” to “Taipei Commercial Office.”
On July 21, the department further announced the renaming and downgrading of Taiwan’s main office in Pretoria and its branch in Cape Town. The main office was renamed the “Taipei Commercial Office in Johannesburg,” while the branch office became the “Taipei Commercial Office in Cape Town.”
In addition, the offices began to be referred to as “international organizations” instead of “foreign representations in South Africa.”