Caught Between Two Chinas: Assessing South Africa's Switch from Taipei to Beijing

Caught Between Two Chinas: Assessing South Africa's Switch from Taipei to Beijing

Author: 
Williams, Christopher  
Place: 
Oxon
Publisher: 
Taylor & Francis Group
Date published: 
2018
Responsibility: 
Hurst, Claire, jt. author
Journal Title: 
South African Historical Journal
Source: 
South African Historical Journal, Vol. 70, Issue 3, September 2018, pp. 559-602
Abstract: 

President Nelson Mandela was confronted with a vexing foreign policy problem immediately upon taking power in 1994 - how to balance South Africa's formal diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (ROC) - a state of affairs inherited from the apartheid government - with the demand of the People's Republic of China's (PRC) that it be acknowledged as the sole government of China. This article draws on archival records and interviews with officials in the Mandela administration to shed light on the texture and timing of the Mandela administration's China choice. This analysis reveals the range of historical, economic, personal and political factors that contributed to the Mandela administration's initial effort to adopt an unprecedented two Chinas policy. It then explains why South Africa abruptly abandoned this dual China approach and switched recognition from the ROC to the PRC.

Country focus: 
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CITATION: Williams, Christopher  . Caught Between Two Chinas: Assessing South Africa's Switch from Taipei to Beijing . Oxon : Taylor & Francis Group , 2018. South African Historical Journal, Vol. 70, Issue 3, September 2018, pp. 559-602 - Available at: http://library.au.int/caught-between-two-chinas-assessing-south-africas-switch-taipei-beijing