Taiwan’s Executive Yuan has earmarked NT$2.2 billion (US$78.1 million) for the purchase of a San Francisco office for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in response to mounting pressures from mainland companies looking to purchase the building where its existing outpost is located, Apple Daily has learned.

The sum will be put into the budget next April, as the Taiwanese government has identified a favorable building for the purchasing process to start in 2022, a source familiar with the matter told Apple Daily.

The plan was made after the owner of Taiwan’s current office in San Francisco doubled the rent last October as the contract ended, the source said. The owner may sell the building to Chinese companies that have been pushing property prices up, forcing the self-ruled island’s MOFA to secure a new office space to purchase, the source added.

The purchase sum would surpass the ministry’s previous record of NT$1.7 billion spent on its New York office. Taiwan has also bought offices in five other locations, including one in Jordan, saving the self-ruled island NT$224 million in rent every year.

Taiwan currently has 110 foreign offices, excluding those in Hong Kong and Macao. Of these, 92 are situated in rented properties and the remaining 18 are owned by Taiwan.

Aside from reducing uncertainties related to renting, purchasing foreign properties for offices can help with diplomatic work as well as services for the Taiwanese diaspora, said Tunghai University political scientist Shen Yu-Chung.

Since 2017, China has put pressure on Taiwan’s foreign offices in seven places that have no diplomatic ties with the island to remove the word “Taiwan” from their names. These included offices in Dubai, Ecuador, Bahrain, Jordan, Papua New Guinea and Fiji.

Only 15 of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies have allowed “Republic of China” to be used in the names of their local outposts. An office opened this year in Somaliland is called the Taiwan Representative Office.

In January 2017, Nigeria and China pressured Taiwan to change the name of its office in the African country, move out of the capital of Abuja as well as cut down its duties and number of staff.

As a result, the office changed its name from The Trade Mission of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in Nigeria to Taipei Trade Office in the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Following this incident, more of Taiwan’s overseas offices were forced to change their names.

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