The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says it has lodged an official protest over
the "unilateral" change to the name of Taiwan's representative office on a
South African government website.

The statement comes after an update to the Department of International
Relations and Cooperation website listed the "Taipei Liaison Office" as the
"Taipei Commercial Office."

According to the foreign ministry, the South African government is seeking to
"downgrade" the representative office and recategorize it as a "trade office"
based in the commercial capital Johannesburg.

South Africa has set a deadline of the end of this month for Taiwan to change
the name of its representative office and relocate.

However, the foreign ministry is insisting that per an agreement signed the
year before diplomatic relations with South Africa ended in 1998, Taiwan is
permitted to operate a liaison office in Pretoria.

And the ministry says any changes to the office's location and its name are
not to be made until both sides reach an agreement on the issue following
official negotiations.