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.
…
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.
Isn’t it time for the world to admit it’s really stupid to not acknowledge that an island that has total autonomy for decades is not part of another country?
Not if China has anything to say about it.
I haven’t clarified this with the ultimate source of all truth (ChatGPT) but I’m pretty sure there’s not actually that many countries that officially recognise Taiwan as anything independent country.
Literally in the part of the article the OP posted in the body of this post:
Taiwan’s government is only officially recognized by a dozen countries, while many states maintain informal diplomatic ties with the island.
Well, the world has seen and allowed for much sillier and dumber things that.
But the interesting thing here is that a lot of countries don’t acknowledge the opposite. For example, this is the US’s official position on the One China Policy:
The United States acknowledges that all Chinese on either side of the Taiwan Strait maintain there is but one China and that Taiwan is a part of China. The United States Government does not challenge that position.
The US acknowledges that Chinese … have a view, and doesn’t challenge it. But never does the US say that Taiwan is a part of China.
In fact, the US gave the Six Assurances to the gov’t on Taiwan later, one of which is,
Has not altered its position regarding the sovereignty over Taiwan
And if I’m understanding correctly, the US is just one of a number of countries that refuse to state or concede outright that Taiwan is a part of China. They may not spell out the opposite (realpolitik as a price to engage with the PRC), but it’s still a case where silence can speak volumes, I think.
It is not the stated will of Taiwan. Taiwan also officially follows the One China principle.
So each side claims to be the rightful sovereign of all of China, while the other side is occupying some of that area.
Officially, yes, but it’s complicated. Unofficially they’re no longer supporting that claim but it remains in the constitution. And ironically, there is concern that relinquishing the claim over the mainland might be perceived as a pro-independence move and would antagonize the mainland authorities.
SA bending over for Xi
Short Memory from South Africa.
Name one good thing South Africa did
We won the rugby
Oh good, is rugby over now?
Rugby here is never over.
Recently stood up for Palestinians
Boerewors.
Why are they asking Taiwan? They should be asking Beijing, right?
Accidentally legitimised independence there. No backsies!
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.
lol taiwan doesnt have nukes, or a billion people, or the greatest manufacturing abilities ever seen.
also, the US loves an enemy to rely upon
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