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Macedonia Set to Cut Ties with Taiwan
Macedonia is prepared to break off diplomatic ties with Taiwan in an effort to restore diplomatic relations with People's Republic of China, Foreign Minister Ilinka Mitreva said on Thursday.
Macedonia switched recognition to Taiwan in 1999 in return for a lucrative investment deal, but now is keen to regain China's international support in dealing with a five-month-long ethnic Albanian insurgency along its border with Kosovo.
"We are on the way to sever ties with Taiwan," Mitreva told reporters.
Taiwan Foreign Minister Tien Hung-mao cut short a Latin American trip to fly to Macedonia in a last-ditch effort to rescue diplomatic ties with its war-torn European ally.
"I will not meet Taiwan's foreign minister. We are in the process of normalisation of relations with China and this would reflect on our relations with Taiwan," said Mitreva, adding he was in Skopje to attend a trade fare.
She took office two weeks ago as a member of an all-party government formed to avert civil war in the young Balkan state.
China showed its anger at the Taiwan switch two years ago by using its veto in the United Nations Security Council to block an extension of the mandate of the UN peacekeeping force to Macedonia.
Skopje agreed to transfer diplomatic recognition to Taiwan after Taipei pledged up to $300 million in cash and more than US$1 billion dollars over a longer period.
Skopje has so far received $20 million in direct investment and a further $150 million in loans and technical assistance.
Macedonian officials said earlier they aimed to maintain business links with Taiwan and diplomatic ties with Beijing, but Taiwan rejected the proposal saying it would accept nothing short of diplomatic relations.
Macedonia is one of Taiwan's 29 diplomatic allies, mostly cash-strapped economies in Africa and Latin America.
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