(Bloomberg) -- The South African government said a visit to Taiwan by the mayor of an area that includes the capital, Pretoria, breached foreign policy and was “highly regrettable.”
Tshwane Mayor Solly Msimanga, from the main opposition Democratic Alliance party, ignored advice from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation when he traveled to Taipei, contravening South Africa's “One China” policy, the department said in a statement Monday.
Solly Msimanga
China, South Africa's biggest trading partner, considers Taiwan a breakaway province and South Africa endorses the stance of the government in Beijing that the island and the mainland are part of the same China. South Africa switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China in late 1996. Msimanga became mayor after the Democratic Alliance formed agreements with the Economic Freedom Fighters to oust the African National Congress in Tshwane, Johannesburg and Nelson Mandela Bay following local-government elections in August.
“Representatives of any sphere of government must ensure that their engagements with international entities are aligned to existing mechanisms and programs and that such relations are coordinated in a manner that advances South Africa's foreign policy and national interests,” the department said in its statement.
To contact the reporter on this story: John Viljoen in Johannesburg at jviljoen@bloomberg.net. To contact the editors responsible for this story: Celeste Perri at cperri@bloomberg.net, John Viljoen, Jacqueline Mackenzie
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