Members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) today upheld a DA request to DIRCO Minister, Ronald Lamola, to provide the committee with 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).
Minister Lamola must now comply with this request as part of his duty to account to parliament as the chief oversight body over the national executive.
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 by former President Nelson Mandela in December 1997.
The sitting of today’s DIRCO portfolio committee sought to provide an update on the Government Gazette of 21 July 2025, which removed formal recognition of the Taipei Liaison Office (TLO) in Pretoria, downgraded the TLO, and requested that it be relocated out of Pretoria to Johannesburg.
The committee today, however, resolved that as legislators, members cannot deliberate on this decision taken by the executive if they cannot see the legislation or agreements which give such decisions effect. In the absence of the Exchange of Notes, the committee is blinded and cannot determine whether the Government Gazette of 21 July 2025 is valid, nor what diplomatic provisions already exist to govern South Africa-Taiwan relations.
The DA welcomes this development especially since our Promotion of Access to Information (PAIA) application submitted to DIRCO to obtain a copy of the Exchange of Notes was declined by Minister Lamola in June 2026. We have subsequently appealed this decision and await the Minister’s response. It is encouraging to see that Parliament’s DIRCO portfolio committee broadly agrees that a decision surrounding the TLO cannot be taken or deliberated on in a vacuum of existing legal mandate.
The DA maintains that the Government Gazette of 21 July 2025 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. Furthermore, this decision has jeopardised trade relations with Taiwan 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.
Minister 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.
The DA remains committed to both the principles of the rule of law and non-alignment which govern South Africa’s foreign policy. The Exchange of Notes was drafted to give effect to a sound trade relationship with the island of Taiwan in full recognition of the One China Policy by the South African Republic. We welcome incentives to make the Exchange of Notes public so that as legislators we can determine how this relationship can proceed governed by the rule of law, and not by political decisions taken under a veil of legislative secrecy.