In a sign that Taiwan is becoming Albania's diplomatic pawn, the founder of the Association of Friendship between Albania and Taiwan has called on members to avoid any "political functions" in the organization.
In a press conference last Thursday, Neritan Ceka, the founder and honorary president of the Albania-Taiwan association, announced his resignation from his post, citing a shift in China's position toward Albania as the reason for his decision.
Beijing has "expressed the desire to become a serious economic partner with Albania," he said. Ceka, who is also a parliamentarian, called on other legislators and members of the association to withdraw their membership, saying the organization should be stripped of its political functions.
"This association can remain in the business of establishing trade relations with Taiwan, but free of any political stripes," he said.
Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has recently denied allegations that it was ready to swap US$1 billion in exchange for diplomatic recognition from Albania.
A Reuters report quoted Pellumb Shullazi, an Albanian legislator and deputy chairman of the association, as saying that Taiwan's envoy in Macedonia, Peter Cheng (
Albania, meanwhile, appears to be playing Taiwan against China in order to gain economic concessions from Beijing.
Albania's defense minister, Luan Hajdaraga, was in China when speculation about the cash-for-ties deal first broke in the news.
The Balkan state's president, Rexhep Meidani, is currently in Beijing at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart, Jiang Zemin (
Meidani departed for China over the weekend, saying he hopes to increase economic cooperation between Albania and China through Beijing's assistance in the economic restructuring of his nation, Xinhua reported.
Historically, Albania has maintained strong ties with China.
Beijing was one of the biggest aid donors to the Balkan state in the 1970s and Tirana actively assisted China in ousting the Republic of China from the UN in 1971.
But in the Kosovo crisis, in which more than half a million Kosovar Albanians were driven from their homeland, Beijing sided with Yugoslavia and strongly protested against NATO intervention.
Macedonia, Taiwan's only foothold in the Balkan region, established diplomatic relations with the island in January 1999.
To strengthen its presence in the region, Taiwan has offered US$300 million in aid to Kosovo for refugee relief and reconstruction.
So far, Taiwan has delivered an estimated US$4.5 million -- around US$2 million to US$3 million was disbursed through NGOs and US$2 million was spent donating buses to Kosovo.
TPP RALLY: The clashes occurred near the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall on Saturday at a rally to mark the anniversary of a raid on former TPP chairman Ko Wen-je People who clashed with police at a Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) rally in Taipei on Saturday would be referred to prosecutors for investigation, said the Ministry of the Interior, which oversees the National Police Agency. Taipei police had collected evidence of obstruction of public officials and coercion by “disorderly” demonstrators, as well as contraventions of the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法), the ministry said in a statement on Sunday. It added that amid the “severe pushing and jostling” by some demonstrators, eight police officers were injured, including one who was sent to hospital after losing consciousness, allegedly due to heat stroke. The Taipei
NO LIVERPOOL TRIP: Taiwan’s Lin Yu-ting, who won a gold medal in the boxing at the Paris Olympics, was embroiled in controversy about her gender at that event Taiwanese boxer Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) will not attend this year’s World Boxing Championships in Liverpool, England, due to a lack of response regarding her sex tests from the organizer, World Boxing. The national boxing association on Monday said that it had submitted all required tests to World Boxing, but had not received a response as of Monday, the departure day for the championships. It said the decision for Lin to skip the championships was made to protect its athletes, ensuring they would not travel to the UK without a guarantee of participation. Lin, who won a gold medal in the women’s 57kg boxing
The US has revoked Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s (TSMC, 台積電) authorization to freely ship essential gear to its main Chinese chipmaking base, potentially curtailing its production capabilities at that older-generation facility. American officials recently informed TSMC of their decision to end the Taiwanese chipmaker’s so-called validated end user (VEU) status for its Nanjing site. The action mirrors steps the US took to revoke VEU designations for China facilities owned by Samsung Electronics Co and SK Hynix Inc. The waivers are set to expire in about four months. “TSMC has received notification from the US Government that our VEU authorization for TSMC Nanjing
CHINESE INCURSIONS, SORTIES: President William Lai thanked military officers for shouldering the responsibility of defending the survival and development of Taiwan President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that aggression would inevitably fail, pointing — on the day before a mass military parade in Beijing — to the lessons from World War II and key victories Taiwan claims against Chinese forces in 1958. Taiwan has over the past five years repeatedly complained about heightened Chinese military activity including war games around the nation as Beijing steps up pressure to enforce territorial claims that Taipei rejects. Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, are to oversee a military parade in Beijing today to mark the
RSS