This day, 5 December, in 1996, South African President Nelson Mandela wrote to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, stating that South Africa would end its diplomatic recognition of Taiwan on 31 December, 1997, pointing out in the letter that it was the right time for South Africa to follow international practices and achieve a smooth transition to the normalisation of relations with the People’s Republic of China.
1996年12月5日的这一天，南非总统纳尔逊·曼德拉写信给中国国家主席江泽民，表示南非将于1997年12月31日结束对台湾的外交承认，并在信中指出，现在是南非遵循国际惯例并顺利过渡到与中华人民共和国关系正常化的合适时机。
