DATE:
2006/1/4
(updated 12:51 a.m.)
The China Post staff
The government announced yesterday it was planning to close down its representative office in Belarus immediately on the grounds that the Eastern European nation opposed Taiwan's efforts to wrest more space in the international arena.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Michel Lu said Belarus had succumbed to temptation from China and had publicly opposed Taiwan's efforts to enter the United Nations (UN) and World Health Organization (WHO).
"That was the most important reason for our decision to close the office," Lu told a press conference yesterday.
Lu said the office would be closed as of yesterday and its functions would be taken over by the island's representative in Moscow.
Lu said Taiwan set up the office in Belarus in 1996 after the two sides signed a bilateral agreement. However, Belarus failed to reciprocate according to the terms of the agreement by setting up its own office in Taiwan. Trade volumes were no more than US$20 to US$30 million each year, Lu said.
"There was limited room for improving bilateral relations and interactions between the two sides were not good," Lu said.
"The office was not fulfilling its potential."
Lu said a ministerial committee met once a year to assess the state of the island's overseas representative offices. Foreign Minister Chen Tan Sun made the decision to close the office at a committee meeting in December last year, Lu said.
Lu said the committee evaluated representative offices in each foreign country on the basis of the relations the foreign country in question had with Taiwan.
"When Taiwan sets up an office in a non-allied country, we hope it will not oppose our attempts to enter the UN and WHO, even if it has no means of giving them public support," Lu said.
Taiwan faces an uphill struggle to expand its diplomatic relations, because China strongly discourages other countries from having ties with the island.
Taiwan has diplomatic ties with only 25 countries, but maintains trade and cultural offices -- embassies in all but name -- throughout the world.
Source:
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/i_latestdetail.asp?id=34142
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