Superpower Divide Over Kosovo Widens
Associated Press Online - February 19, 2008
By ROBERT WIELAARD, Associated Press Writer
BRUSSELS Belgium - The U.S. and the European Union's biggest powers quickly
recognized Kosovo as an independent nation Monday, widening a split with Russia,
China and some EU members strongly opposed to letting the territory break away
from Serbia.
A day after Kosovo declared independence, ethnic Serbs in the north angrily
denounced the United States and urged Russia to help Serbia hold on to the
territory that Serbs consider the birthplace of their civilization.
Protesters also marched in Serbia's capital, and that nation recalled its
ambassador to the U.S. to protest American recognition for an independent
Kosovo.
Russia, Serbia's key ally, and emerging global power China remained adamantly
opposed to Kosovo's independence, warning of the danger of inspiring separatist
movements around the world, including in their own sprawling territories.
As veto-wielding Security Council members, Russia and China both have the power
to block any attempt by Kosovo to gain a seat on the international body.
The Council met for 2 1/2 hours in New York in the second day of an emergnecy
session on Kosovo but was unable to agree on a resolution or joint statement
regarding Sunday's declaration of independence.
Serbia vowed to fight to the end against any U.N. recognition.
"The so-called Kosovo state will never be a member of the United Nations. Serbia
will use all diplomatic means at its disposal to block Kosovo's recognition,"
said Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.
The Kremlin was already working diplomatic levers to help Serbia achieve that
aim.
Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko, Russia's special envoy to the Balkans, was quoted
by the Interfax news agency as saying Moscow expected U.N. Secretary-General Ban
Ki-moon to abide by a Security Council resolution that recognized Kosovo as part
of Serbia.
Serbian President Boris Tadic, who attended the U.N. meeting, urged the council
to oppose Kosovo's move and to intervene as a last resort.
"The Republic of Serbia will not resort to force," said Tadic. "On the other
hand, this arbitrary decision represents a precedent, which will cause
irreparable damage to the international order."
He said Kosovo's declaration "annuls international law, tramples upon justice
and enthrones injustice."
Serbia recalled its ambassador to Washington in protest of U.S. recognition for
Kosovo, but said it was not severing diplomatic ties. It also withdrew envoys to
France and Turkey and was expected to recall others as more nations formally
recognized Kosovo as a new state.
"America and the European Union are stealing Kosovo from us, everyone must
realize that," said Tomislav Nikolic, the head of Serbia's Radical Party.
After an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels, Britain, Germany and France
said they would quickly give recognition to Kosovo, a move that would be
followed in the days ahead by most of the bloc's other 24 member states,
officials said.
The EU does not recognize nations, leaving that up to its individual members.
Spain, Greece, Romania and Cyprus have criticized the effort to make Kosovo
independent.
Spain, which has battled a violent Basque separatist movement for decades, was
the biggest European Union nation to oppose Kosovo independence. Greece, Romania
and Cyprus also are against Kosovo's new status.
In Bucharest, Romanian President Traian Basescu called Kosovo's declaration "an
illegal act" a position rooted in Romania's traditional close ties with Serbia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that independence without U.N.
approval sets a dangerous precedent for the former Soviet Union, where
separatists in Russia's Chechnya region and two areas of Georgia are agitating
for independence.
Russian officials hinted last week that if Kosovo declared independence it might
retaliate by recognizing the independence claims of Abkhazia and South Ossetia
two Russian-supported provinces in Georgia. Russia's parliament repeated the
threat Monday.
On Monday, Kosovo independence took center stage in China's diplomatic jousting
with Taiwan, which has been self-governing since the Chinese civil war in 1949
but which the Beijing regime considers to still be part of China.
China's Foreign Ministry criticized Taiwan for welcoming Kosovo's independence,
saying the island's government did not meet the criteria for recognizing other
countries.
"It is known to all that Taiwan, as a part of China, has no right and
qualification at all to make the so-called recognition," Foreign Ministry
spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement posted on the ministry's Web site.
China has good ties with Serbia and expressed "deep concern" over Kosovo's
independence declaration.
For Beijing, the announcement conjures up one of its greatest fears: that Taiwan
could some day make a similar declaration, something China says it would meet
with military force. Chinese leaders also worry about separatist sentiments in
the heavily Muslim regions of western China.
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