Taiwan yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding for a defense agreement with Macedonia, establishing for the first time official military cooperation with a European country.
The agreement was signed by Minister of National Defense Wu Shih-wen (
The Ministry of National Defense (MND) said in a statement that the military cooperation between Taiwan and Macedonia is believed by the two sides to be helpful for the enhancement of bilateral diplomatic relations.
Neither Wu nor Paunoski made public speeches either during or after the signing ceremony, which took place yesterday evening at the defense ministry.
The signing of the defense accord with Macedonia, the first with a European country, is highly valued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which arranged Paunoski's visit to Taiwan.
However, the military held a different view. Asked to comment on the matter, most of the military officials contacted by the Taipei Times said they did not expect the military cooperation with Macedonia to be of any substantial help to Taiwan in the foreseeable future.
At yesterday's signing ceremony, Chief of the General Staff General Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) did not even attend, instead sending his deputy, General Wang Han-ning (王漢寧).
Paunoski did not, however, share the view that Macedonia would be of little help to Taiwan militarily.
Paunoski said he believes the military cooperation will be beneficial to both sides and that Macedonia's policy priorities are now on infrastructure reconstruction, education and arms build-up.
"It is a win-win situation for Taiwan and Macedonia to establish diplomatic ties," Paunoski said yesterday.
Under the agreement, Paunoski said, Macedonia can help Taiwan expand its military exchanges with other European countries.
But with or without assistance by Macedonia, Taiwan has already established military links with some European countries, as evidenced by the sending of retired generals, rather than career diplomats, to head Taiwan's representative offices in those countries.
"How can Macedonia be of any military help to Taiwan? Can we expect them to send troops to Taiwan in the event of a war in the Taiwan Strait?" a defense official said. "Although Macedonia can help Taiwan get closer to NATO countries, it goes a little too far to think Taiwan will come under the umbrella of NATO protection in the future," the official said.
"It is true that NATO had declared during its Kosovo operation last year that in the future, its task enforcement area will not be limited to Europe. But do not forget that it also said its priority concern will still be Europe," he said.
RSS