Taiwan severed diplomatic ties with Macedonia yesterday and ended all economic aid to the crisis-torn Balkan state after its last-ditch effort to secure relations with the European country failed.
The end of diplomatic ties with Macedonia leaves Taiwan with 28 official diplomatic allies.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Katharine Chang (張小月) made the announcement at a press conference yesterday morning. Chang noted that Macedonia wants the backing of Beijing -- a permanent member of the UN Security Council -- in its civil war and accused China of "coercing" the country into shifting recognition from Taipei to Beijing.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Chang said Taiwan "deeply regrets" that Macedonia has disregarded friendly ties between the two countries and "acquiesced to the pressure and enticement of China."
After Taiwan's announcement yesterday morning, China and Macedonia signed a joint communique in Beijing to normalize relations between the two countries, Beijing's official Xinhua news agency reported.
The statement was signed by Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan (
Chang said Taiwan would close its embassy in Macedonia immediately, terminate all agreements and cooperation projects between Taipei and Skopje and withdraw Taiwan's technical mission.
Chang stressed that Taiwan would not retain any "alternative" office in Skopje after breaking ties with Macedonia, saying "we will not have any representative offices there."
During Macedonia's Cabinet meeting last Tuesday, the Macedonian government decided to try to normalize its relations with China, Macedonian government spokesman Antonio Miloshoski told the Taipei Times last week.
Chang said the decision taken by Macedonia has not only seriously damaged the national interests of Taiwan, but also interrupted ongoing cooperation projects between the two countries totalling US$140 million.
"This is bound to hamper Macedonia's socio-economic development in the future," the foreign ministry statement said.
Chang's announcement came at 11am yesterday, shortly after the arrival of Macedonian Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva in Beijing, foreign ministry officials said.
Chang said the formation of the grand coalition government in Macedonia on May 13 spelled trouble for relations, since the new government integrated pro-China forces, thus hampering efforts of pro-Taiwan forces within the government.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Hung-mao (
In view of the ethnic conflict in Macedonia that began in February and its rising anxiety over averting an imminent civil war, Macedonia has been keen on gaining China's international support in dealing with the five-month ethnic Albanian insurgency along its border with Kosovo.
China's status as a permanent member of the UN Security Council is seen as pivotal in helping Macedonia settle its domestic crisis.
Taiwan and Macedonia established diplomatic ties in January 1999 without notifying then Macedonian president Kiro Gligorov. Angered by the accord, China broke off ties with Macedonia the next month and vetoed the continuation of a UN peacekeeping mission in Macedonia in its capacity as one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
Foreign ministry officials conceded that the loss of Macedonia as an ally was "a setback" for Taiwan, adding that in hindsight, changes in the the Balkan state's strategic situation made Skopje's shift of recognition from Taipei to Beijing inevitable.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
NO CONFIDENCE MOTION? The premier said that being toppled by the legislature for defending the Constitution would be a democratic badge of honor for him Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday announced that the Cabinet would not countersign the amendments to the local revenue-sharing law passed by the Legislative Yuan last month. Cho said the decision not to countersign the amendments to the Act Governing the Allocation of Government Revenues and Expenditures (財政收支劃分法) was made in accordance with the Constitution. “The decision aims to safeguard our Constitution,” he said. The Constitution stipulates the president shall, in accordance with law, promulgate laws and issue mandates with the countersignature of the head of the Executive Yuan, or with the countersignatures of both the head of the Executive Yuan and ministers or
CABINET APPROVAL: People seeking assisted reproduction must be assessed to determine whether they would be adequate parents, the planned changes say Proposed amendments to the Assisted Reproduction Act (人工生殖法) advanced yesterday by the Executive Yuan would grant married lesbian couples and single women access to legal assisted reproductive services. The proposed revisions are “based on the fundamental principle of respecting women’s reproductive autonomy,” Cabinet spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) quoted Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), who presided over a Cabinet meeting earlier yesterday, as saying at the briefing. The draft amendment would be submitted to the legislature for review. The Ministry of Health and Welfare, which proposed the amendments, said that experts on children’s rights, gender equality, law and medicine attended cross-disciplinary meetings, adding that
RSS