Chen has said that he wants to revitalize the diplomatic establishment, but as yet little has changed in the way of diplomatic dogma: the more allies the better; hang the cost.
The lessons from Macedonia are not new. The foreign ministry needs to face reality and abandon its blind ambition to add nations to its list of "friends." Sound diplomatic relations should be founded on common political and economic interests, not on a head-count. Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), chairman of the ministry's research and planning board put it best last August: "It can't be business as usual around here, it has to be better than that."
Mark Wolfe is a freelance writer based in Taipei.
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