Wednesday, July 25, 2018

China and Taiwan in South Africa: Remembering History

The Conversation posted on 24 July 2018 an article titled "A Tale of Two Chinas: The Story of South Africa's Switch from Taipei to Beijing" by Christopher Williams, South African Institute for International Affairs.

Twenty years ago, after two and a half years of attempting dual recognition of both Taipei and Beijing, Nelson Mandela in 1998 switched South Africa's diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China. At the time, Taiwan was South Africa's sixth largest trading partner and had donated $10 million to Mandela's African National Congress (ANC). Today, China is South Africa's largest trading partner and the Communist Party of China has close ties with the ANC. Taipei still has a liaison office in South Africa.