The following article was published on The Diplomat’s website today.
The “Taiwan adventure,” it was called. Or the “Taiwan billion.” Or – rather more prosaically – the “Taiwan loans case.” It all depends on who you ask.
“I guess the ‘Taiwan billion-dollar affair’ could be a working term,” said Filip Stojanovski. “Though maybe not so catchy.”
However it is remembered, the episode looms large in the collective memory of North Macedonians of a certain age. On several occasions during my three days in Skopje, North Macedonia’s capital, I was greeted with knowing smiles when I mentioned Taiwan.
“It’s associated with a sort of political adventurism in politics here,” explained Stojanovski, partnership and resource director of Metamorphosis Foundation, a Skopje-based NGO, which works to strengthen civil society and has tracked Chinese soft power influence in North Macedonia. “It symbolizes something reckless.”
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