The defense minister of Kosovo said today there are a lot of opportunities for Taiwan and Kosovo to cooperate together in defense, as well as other areas.
Speaking to attendees of a panel at the Halifax Security Forum, which was being held for the first time in Taipei this week, Ejup Maqedonci said Kosovo and Taiwan face similar threats and even “face similar and [the] same weapon systems, because Serbia bought a lot of missiles and weapon systems from China.” For this reason he said there is opportunity to cooperate on defense issues.
On the issue of defense budgets, Maqedonci said Europe has not invested enough in defense, thus risking long-term peace. “Kosovo today is building its factory to produce ammunition, and France still doesn’t have that. So now, in all this environment, not building and not investing in defense was, I think, [the] wrong decision from Europe.”
Speaking more broadly, Maqedonci said both Taiwan and Kosovo are “continuing to develop democratic society in our countries.” He added that he had held meetings with a lot of Taiwanese government officials, including his defense minister counterpart, Wellington Koo (顧立雄), while he was in Taipei.
It is rare for senior ministers of states that do not have diplomatic ties with Taiwan to visit the country while in office. But Maqedonci is in an unusual situation. Although Kosovo has no official ties with Taiwan, it also lacks diplomatic relations with China. China’s key European ally Serbia claims Kosovo as part of its territory, and Beijing “respects Serbia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” Kosovo thus has no “one China” policy that it should nominally follow.
Although both are U.S. allies that are threatened by a revanchist neighbor, ties between Kosovo and Taiwan to this point have been limited. The parliaments of both countries formed friendship groups in 2021. In 2024 there was a twin cities agreement between Kaohsiung in the south of Taiwan and Pristina, the capital of Kosovo.
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