Attention Broadcasters: Sound by Ryan Smith MP in English.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has today submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) application to the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) to obtain a complete and unredacted copy of the Exchange of Notes concluded and signed in 1997 between the Republic of South Africa and the Republic of China (Taiwan).
The Exchange of Notes, which outlines the terms of South Africa’s working relationship with Taiwan following the Republic’s formal recognition of the One China Policy in 1998, has been confidential since its signing in December 1997.
However, the publishing of a Government Gazette on 21 July 2025, which removed formal recognition of the Taipei Liaison Office (TLO) in Pretoria, marked an undiplomatic and legislatively abrupt change in South Africa’s terms of engagement with Taiwan devoid of talks with the TLO on the status of the existing agreement, and in a suspicious vacuum of requisite diplomatic protocol.
As a problematic departure from non-alignment, this decision is a self-inflicted blow to South African trade and does not serve the national interest.
The publication of the 21 July 2025 Gazette has jeopardised trade relations with Taiwan overnight, including limiting South Africa’s access to critical manufacturing components such as Taiwanese silicon semi-conductor chips, the preferred component in much of South African manufacturing.
Since the gazette was published, South Africa has seen a widening trade deficit with Taiwan amounting to a 50% drop in South African exports to the island over the past year alone, according to statistics from the Taiwanese International Trade Administration.
The vast yet untapped potential of Taiwan as an export market for agricultural goods and a source market for tourism, for example, has been squandered by DIRCO’s decision to enact diplomacy based on the interests of the ANC and not the people of South Africa.
Furthermore, DIRCO Minister Ronald Lamola’s assertion that the decision to downgrade the status of the TLO in Pretoria is in line with international consensus is patently false.
No such convention exists. Even among fellow BRICS+ member states such as Brazil and India, which understand the crucial role of trade with Taiwan for growth and manufacturing, Taiwanese Foreign Missions enjoy representation in the capital cities of Brasília and New Delhi, respectively.
As an emerging economy, South Africa must deepen existing trading relationships and identify new opportunities to expand market access.
South Africa’s recognition of the One China Policy should not come at the expense of diversified trade, economic growth, and jobs.
We are a sovereign nation that must pursue its national interest independent of external influence.
Minister Lamola very publicly outlined economic diplomacy as his key priority over the course of his term of office.
Why then, has he taken a deeply aligned decision to destroy South Africa’s immense trade potential with Taiwan as a result?
This decision is deeply irrational and is not borne out of any awareness of, or concern for, South African trade and prosperity which should be Minister Lamola’s key priority.
South Africa is a non-aligned state for good reason: so that we can create an equal opportunity environment for global trade, and navigate the shifting economic diplomacy space outside of undue pressures exerted by any one superpower.
The decision to downgrade the TLO in Pretoria is a direct deviation from our non-aligned stance.
By seemingly putting a stake in the sand, DIRCO has placed South Africa on a path of trade uncertainty within the broader international political economy.
This is not at all in South Africa’s national interest.
As the DA, we want to determine whether the downgrading of the Taipei Liason Office in Pretoria is legally and legislatively justified given the signing of the Exchange of Notes in 1997 which remains in act to this very day.
It is now in the national interest for the public to know the content of this agreement, and why DIRCO has defied it to the detriment of South Arican trade and jobs.
Genuine non-alignment, as outlined in the Government of National Unity’s (GNU) statement of intent, means we should not have to pick winners and losers when we approach international trade.
The DA will ensure that our economic diplomacy is centred around the national interest and not the whims of any one political party within the GNU.