Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), also known as Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) or Taipei Representative Office (Chinese: 台北經濟文化辦事處; pinyin: Táiběi Jǐngjì Wénhùa Bànshìchù), is a representative office equivalent to an embassy or a consulate which handles foreign affairs and citizen services of the Republic of China (Taiwan) in countries that have diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC, commonly "China"). Under the terms of the One China Policy stipulated by the PRC, such countries may not have diplomatic relations with the Republic of China, as the PRC denies the existence of ROC as a sovereign state and claims Taiwan as part of its China. As a result, these countries do not allow the ROC to establish an "official" embassy or consulate but instead allow the ROC to establish these representative offices to conduct informal government relations with the host countries.
These establishments use the term "Taipei" instead of "Taiwan" or "ROC" since the term "Taipei" avoids implying that Taiwan is a different country on a par with the PRC or that there are "Two Chinas", the PRC and the ROC, both of which would cause difficulties for their host countries.
TECROs state that their aim is "to promote bilateral trade, investment, culture, science and technology exchanges and cooperation, as well as better understanding", although they perform many of the same functions as a normal embassy or consulate general, like issuing visas and passports.
TECROs do enjoy many diplomatic privileges such as extraterritoriality, providing consular protection and their staffs do have diplomatic immunity. Other countries also establish reciprocal representative offices in Taiwan, such as the American Institute in Taiwan, Canadian Trade Office in Taipei and Interchange Association, Japan.
Read more about Taipei Economic And Cultural Representative Office: TECRO in The United States, TECRO in Japan, Representation in Hong Kong, Representation in Macau, TRO in The United Kingdom, Taipei Representative Offices Around The World
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