Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office

From Free net encyclopedia

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), sometimes known as Taipei Representative Offices, are de facto embassies and consulates of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in countries that do not have official relations with the ROC because of relations with the People's Republic of China, but have nevertheless established trade and "cultural" relationships. These establishments use the term "Taipei" instead of "Taiwan" or "ROC" since the term "Taipei" avoids implying that Taiwan is a different country or that there are "Two Chinas".

By calling these offices TECRO, the ROC gets around the diplomatic language surrounding recognition by these states that the PRC is the One China by stating that their aim is to "with the aim to promote bilateral trade, investment, culture, science and technology exchanges and cooperation, as well as better understanding", rather than diplomatically represent the ROC abroad.

Despite its name, TECRO does everything that a normal embassy or consulate would do, like issuing visas. Offices from other countries, such as the American Institute in Taiwan or the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, are similarly established in Taiwan.

While Hong Kong is now a Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China, it also represents its own interests abroad by establishing Hong Kong Economic and Trade Offices (HKETOs), which also process visas for Hong Kong, although PRC Embassies also do this in countries where there is no HKETO.

See also

• Foreign relations of Taiwan
• Political status of Taiwan
• Chinese Taipei

External links

• TECO in Canada
• TECRO in U.S.
• TECRO in Japan (Japanese)
• TRO in South Korea (Korean)
• TRO in UK
• TECO in Australiako:타이베이 대표부

ja:台北経済文化代表処 th:สำนักงานเศรษฐกิจและวัฒนธรรมไทเป zh:臺北經濟文化代表處