UN resolution is political, legal basis for Kosovo issue: China

BEIJING—China stressed on Tuesday that United Nations Resolution 1244 is still the political and legal basis of resolving the issue of Kosovo’s status.
“Unless the UN Security Council has other decisions which should be abided by, the UN Security Council’s Resolution 1244 is still the political basis and legal foundation of resolving the issue of Kosovo’s status,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular press conference. Liu was responding to a question about whether China would participate in the UN mission in Kosovo.
He said since 1999, the international presence in Kosovo, including its combination and tasks, had been authorized and approved by the UN Security Council. “Before adopting any new resolution by the Security Council, any efforts or acts to resolve the Kosovo issue should accord with relevant regulations of the Resolution 1244,” said Liu
He said that China would continue to play an active role in the settlement of the Kosovo issue. China has expressed grave concern over Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence on Monday. “Kosovo’s unilateral act can produce a series of results that will lead to seriously negative influence on peace and stability in the Balkan region and on the realization of building a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo, which China is deeply concerned about,” said Liu.
Kosovo’s parliament voted on Sunday to adopt a declaration of independence at an extraordinary session on its independence from Serbia. But Serbian President Boris Tadic said that Serbia would never recognize the independence of Kosovo.
Kosovo was a southern autonomous province within Serbia before the breakup of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Among its population of 2 million, more than 90 percent are ethnic Albanians. Serbs make up about 7 percent. Kosovo has been under UN administration since mid-1999, after NATO air-strikes drove out Serbian forces from the province. Taiwan has no right and qualification to recognize Kosovo’s independence, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said here Monday. “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,” Liu Jianchao said in a press release.—Xinhua