Byzantine Blog

Chinese Kosovo—Taiwan—Flares Up

AFP reports today that Taiwan, which officially calls itself the Republic of China, has decided to hold a referendum on March 22, alongside the island's presidential elections, on the final step of unilateral secession from China — joining the United Nations.

It is no longer a secret that unilateral declaration of independence by the Pristina separatists and subsequent lightening-quick illegal recognition of Serbia's severed Kosovo-Metohia province by Washington, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, London et al has, as predicted, opened the Pandora's Box of secessionists seeking recognitions for their own self-proclaimed turfs, within other internationally recognized states.

The conflicts that were kept under control until February 17, 2008, have flared up after the West has encouraged, steered and rewarded Albanian minority in Serbia for violent and unlawful carving up of the heart of Serbian state.

EU and Slovenia's Duplicity (Surpassed Only by Washington's Duplicity Thus Far)

But look how the duplicitous EU, which has backed the unilateral dismemberment of tiny Serbia, along with the currently presiding Slovenia, which has issued its recognition of the illegal mafia state on Serbia's territory, reacted to the announced Kosovo follow-up when it comes to mighty China.

"While recognizing the general value of referenda as democratic instruments, the EU is, nevertheless, concerned by the decision in Taiwan to proceed with the proposed referendum on joining the UN," the European Union's current president Slovenia said in a statement.

"The proposed referendum would risk increasing cross-straits tension, to the potential detriment of all concerned, including the people of Taiwan."

The European Union "has a significant stake in the maintenance of cross-strait peace and stability," and adheres to the "One China" policy, the EU's Slovenian presidency stressed, adding that "the Taiwan question must be solved peacefully between the parties concerned."

"There should be no recourse to unilateral action, destabilizing initiatives or coercion by either side."

The unilateralism which, apparently, is quite alright when it comes to Albanian terrorists in Serbia, is illegal, destabilizing and impermissible when it comes to nuclear China. While the imposed amputation of a chunk of Serbia was meant to ensure "peace and stability in the Balkans", the same issue inexplicably turns into an exact opposite, "a destabilizing and risk-increasing", alarming action in another case, where the EU backs a totally opposite, "One China" policy.

Less than 24 hours prior to Slovenian expressions of grave concern over the possibility of another step towards Taiwan's unilateral secession from China, Slovenia recognized the unilateral secession of Serbian province of Kosovo, saying that “Slovenia is not doing this for itself, we are doing this on the basis of European and international policy.” A rather weird “international policy” Slovenia relies upon, that changes completely for each subsequent case.

Slovenia also made it known that its government "favors recognition [of amputated Serbian province] on the grounds of the right of nations to self-determination,” regardless of the fact that the Albanian nation has already exercised that right when the state of Albania was formed.

Javier Solana's Awkward Dance

Some time later, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana was sent to put down independence fires erupting in another part of the world—the Caucasus region—after stoking the same secessionist fires in the Balkans for years.

According to AP, Abkhazia, a region that broke away from Georgian government control in the 1990s, intends to seek international recognition as an independent nation, citing Kosovo as a precedent, a lawmaker said Thursday.

Another breakaway region, South Ossetia appealed on Wednesday for similar recognition — further adding to simmering tensions in Georgia and throughout the strategic South Caucasus region.

Guram Gumba, head of the legislature's foreign affairs committee, said Abkhazia's legislature will pass a resolution Friday asking the world "to recognize our independence and to establish official relations."

"Kosovo is in fact a precedent for all unrecognized states," he said.

The very same statement that flies in the face of Western officials' Kosovo-is-unique mantra, e.g. that Kosovo is indeed a precedent everyone can now refer to, was issued by South Ossetia's legislature, which passed a resolution Wednesday that appealed to the United Nations, the European Union, Russia, and a loose grouping of former Soviet republics: "The Kosovo precedent presents a convincing argument that solution of the regional conflicts does not rely on the principle of states' territorial integrity alone."

To which Solana could only say "No, it doesn't", without being able to offer any reasonable explanation, because it simply doesn't exist.

AP cites him as saying that "for the West, the Kosovo declaration was a unique situation, and was not precedent for South Ossetia or Abkhazia." This, despite the fact that both Abkhazia and South Ossetia have de-facto independence for 17 years, with the only difference that, unlike the severed 15 percent of Serbia, no one recognizes their independence.

"The EU will not support such declarations and will continue to insist on finding a solution within the existing conflict resolution formats," Solana was quoted as saying by the Russian daily Nezavisimaya Gazeta on Thursday.

A fine mess of Washington-Brussels' own making.

Cartoon by Petar Pismestrovic (Austria)