In a strongly worded statement, Taipei decries Lamola's 'grave lack of knowledge' and says he must 'stop spreading false information'.

The Taiwanese government has castigated South African Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola for claiming that Taiwan has no representative office in the United States capital, Washington, DC.

Taiwan has a large office in the US capital, in the diplomatic quarter.

Lamola made the comment at a press briefing on Wednesday, 27 August 2025, in an attempt to justify why his government was trying to expel Taiwan from its office in Pretoria.

The SA government has taken the view that Taiwan should not have an office in SA's capital, as that privilege should be reserved for countries with which SA maintains diplomatic relations.

This was the common practice worldwide, Lamola repeated on Wednesday. He was asked for an update on his government's persistent efforts to force Taiwan to move its office from Pretoria to Johannesburg, which Taiwan has resisted.

"The issue of the relocation of the Taiwan Liaison Office, from our side, we consider it done because we have gazetted its relocation to the city of Johannesburg as a commercial liaison office.

"And we have stated the reasons because our relations with Taiwan are at the commercial level in trade.

"And this is not just a South African...