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TAIPEI ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE
The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO), sometimes known as Taipei Representative Offices, is a representative office fulfilling some of the functions of an embassy or consulate general, established by the Republic of China (Taiwan) in countries that do not have official relations with the ROC, due to relations with the People's Republic of China (PRC) in accordance with the One China Policy. 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", the PRC and the ROC.
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 many things that a normal embassy or consulate general would do, like issuing visas and passports. However, TECRO's do not enjoy many diplomatic privileges such as extraterritoriality, cannot provide any consular protection and their staffs do not have any diplomatic immunity. 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.
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