41.   South African President Nelson Mandela surprised the nationalist island with his announcement that diplomatic recognition would be switched to Beijing at the end of next year.

42.   South Africa announced late last month it would switch recognition to Beijing, following a drawn-out period of wooing from both China and Taiwan.

43.   Taiwan was tight-lipped Wednesday over a surprise announcement by South African President Nelson Mandela that his country would switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

44.   Taiwan, under a Nationalist government, is still smarting from the decision by South Africa last year to switch recognition to Beijing.

45.   The establishemnt of the offices was widely seen as the first step towards persuading all three countries to switch diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing.

46.   The foreign ministry officials on Tuesday were also busy in refuting press reports that Panama might follow Niger to switch recognition to Beijing.

47.   The decision to switch recognition from Taipei to Beijing came last December but will not be carried out until the end of this year.

48.   The largest, South Africa, said it would switch recognition to Beijing at the end of this year.