User:Cobrachen/第一生產線/修改區/Local Information/Embassies, consulates, and representative offices

In order to placate the Government of the People's Republic of China, most countries have only friendly, unofficial, de-facto relations with the Taiwan-based Republic of China. This means that most countries only maintain an "institute," "commercial office," "friendship association," "economic and trade office," and so on in Taiwan, which all function as de-facto embassies. While most of these representative offices provide full consular services as any other embassy or consulate in the world, and one should contact these offices if one gets in trouble in Taiwan, these representative offices have no diplomatic status and enjoy no extraterritoriality.

The lack of full diplomatic relations because of the One-China Policy has created occasional inconveniences, especially during natural disasters or epidemics. Recently, the ROC authorities had extreme difficulty capturing a white-collar fugitive because the lack of diplomatic relations with most countries in the world also meant the lack of extradition treaties. During the SARS crisis in Taiwan in 2003, the World Health Organization was initially forbidden by the PRC to help Taiwan because the PRC claimed that it provided with all of Taiwan's health needs; in reality, the US's Center for Disease Control provided most foreign assistance to Taiwan during the crisis. In the 1999 earthquake that killed at least 2,000 people in Taiwan, international help was initially delayed because the PRC demanded all countries to get its permission first before international relief teams were allowed to enter Taiwan.

The following link to This Month in Taiwan provides a list of foreign representative offices stationed in Taipei.

On a side note, the former US ambassador's residence as well as the former British Consulate have become tourist attractions in Taipei. See Attractions