🎬Buzzkill

GEOPOLITICS
“Pretoria is for embassies”: South Africa says as it sends Taiwan packing

A political iteration of the world’s most popular breakup line, “It’s not you, it’s me,” has caused tensions between Taiwan and South Africa. On Friday, Taiwan’s de facto embassy was asked to leave South Africa’s capital, Pretoria. “The Taipei Liaison office will be converted over the next 6 months to a trade office and relocated to Johannesburg, the country's economic capital.” South Africa's Department of International Relations said in a statement.

No prizes for guessing why this has happened

China considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory and has sought to whittle down the number of countries recognizing its claim to statehood. China is also South Africa's largest trade partner. Both states are members of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, a burgeoning response to countries’ increasing dislike of the World Bank’s policies and South Africa’s only hope of achieving its renewable energy dreams.

In case you were doubting, the Chinese foreign minister reacted to the news with delight, saying, “We appreciate South Africa’s correct decision to relocate the Taipei liaison office out of its administrative capital, Pretoria. Taiwanese independence is unpopular and doomed to failure.”.

Taipei equally took a strong stance saying “If the South African government still insists on submitting to China and changing the status quo... we will study and formulate all possible responses to safeguard the sovereignty and dignity of our country."

In fairness to the question, this should be no surprise as South Africa had cut all diplomatic ties with Taipei since 1997. Taiwan’s sovereignty is only recognized by 12 countries, all of which are small, less-developed states with most nations, South Africa included, recognizing Beijing instead.

Zooming out: Analysts fear the move may have jeopardized South Africa’s $900mn a year business with the island and potentially with the US, Taiwan’s biggest backer. -EA.

TRENDING
Place to be: The Grand Egyptian Museum

When the Grand Egyptian Museum fully opens, it’ll take more than one night to enjoy everything it has to offer: It will be the largest museum in the world devoted to one civilization.

For now, you’ll have to settle for this week’s soft opening that allows visitors to explore 12 sprawling galleries about a mile north of the Great Pyramids of Giza outside of Cairo. At full capacity, the museum will contain 100,000 objects from 700,000 years of ancient Egyptian history on 120 acres of land -the size of about 120 football fields.

Here’s a buzzkill however: The King Tutankhamun exhibit, which contains Egypt’s most famous historical artifacts and includes the boy king’s treasures, won’t go on display until fighting in the Middle East subsides, officials told NBC News.

SHOWER THOUGHTS

NEWS
Round the continent

• Egypt has raised its fuel prices by between 10% to 17% to meet its loan obligations to the IMF amidst soaring inflation.

• Kenya has a new VP. Its former minister of interior, Kithure Kindiki will however have to wait for parliament to finalize the impeachment of estranged former VP, Gachagua.

• The World Bank claims that Nigeria’s fiscal reforms and subsidy removal saved it from impending doom.

• Sudan has continued to grapple with severe water shortages during the war. WHO fears there may be a cholera outbreak next.