Beijing is starting to flex its diplomatic muscle in South Africa by leaning on the ANC to order the Taiwan Liaison Office (TLO) to move from Pretoria… because Taipei does not have full diplomatic relations with us.
The story about the order to the Taiwanese broke just as China finished a series of threatening manoeuvres off the coast of Taiwan – the island republic which Beijing considers part of its sovereign territory.
It also followed not long after international research confirmed the essential despotic nature of the Chinese Communist Party by assessing that China has the most draconian internet restrictions in the world.
Despite misgivings about Chinese freedom – and the Taiwanese would certainly lose their democracy if ever incorporated into the mainland – the reality is that South Africa is part of Brics, the alliance of Brazil, Russia, India and China and also that the government accepts the “One China” concept.
The move on Taiwan appears to be unilateral on the part of the ANC, which is no longer solely in charge of running the country and is part of a government of national unity (GNU).
The DA, one of its GNU partners, has suggested that the order should have been discussed in the GNU because foreign policy is a national government responsibility and the ANC is no longer the national government.
That is an interesting local question, as is speculation that Taipei may retaliate for the directive to move its office to Johannesburg.
Among suggestions which have been flighted is that Taiwan could refuse to export semi-conductor chips to this country, thereby hurting the motor assembly industry. However, the chips are sold to global companies and not to individual country operations.
More worrying is the threat to expel South Africans who are teaching English in that country.
Time will tell whether this is mere posturing, or not.
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