Ahead Elections Lukashenko Risks to Spoil Relations With China :: Charter'97 :: News

Welcoming an official delegation from Minsk, the Taiwan Premier Czhan Tsunsun called on Belarus to open representation in Taipei. Tsunsun told the head of the visiting side – first deputy Minister of Finance Nikolai Rumas – that Taiwan is awaiting the fulfillment of the long-pending commitment, which Belarus bound herself with in 1996, to open a Belarus diplomatic compound in Taipei. In response, Nikolai Rumas called on the hosting side to continue deliver financial assistance to Belarus to overcome economic shambles. Taipei’s representation in Minsk was opened on June 1, 1996, half year after the signing of the protocol and the Republic of China (Taiwan’s self-name) earmarked a $35mln worth loan for Belarus.

Taiwan’s official news agency reports that “Rumas expressed his gratefulness to the Republic of China for helping Belarus over the past five years and asked for new credits, designed to help out the country with the strong currency shortage.”

As claimed by Rumas, the USSR breakdown in 1991 has badly affected the country’s defense, which served as a backbone for the republic’s economy.

The Chinese embassy in Minsk declined to officially comment to the “Y.S.News” on the information from Taipei, although privately they shared utter astonishment by such actions of the pro-governmental statesman in Taiwan. The disputed territory of Taiwan is top problem for the continental China, especially after her reunion with Hong Kong and Macao.