U.S., European powers recognize Kosovo

The EU does not recognize nations, leaving that up to its individual members, and Spain, Greece, Romania and Cyprus have criticized the effort to make Kosovo independent.

Despite that divide, the EU foreign ministers issued a joint statement citing "the conflict of the 1990s" in Kosovo as a justification for the independence declaration.

The U.S. and its NATO allies intervened with an air campaign against Serbia in 1999 to end a brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists that had killed 10,000 people. The territory had been under U.N. and NATO administration since then, although formally remaining part of Serbia.

Seeking to address the concerns of Russia and others about a free Kosovo, the foreign ministers stressed that Kosovo should be an exception to the international rule that national borders can be changed only if all parties agree.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has argued that independence without U.N. approval sets a dangerous precedent for the former Soviet Union, where separatists in Russia's Chechnya region and two areas of Georgia are agitating for independence.

Russian officials hinted last week that if Kosovo declared independence it might retaliate by recognizing the independence claims of Abkhazia and South Ossetia — two Russian-supported provinces in Georgia. Russia's parliament repeated the threat Monday.

China's Taiwan problem
On Monday, Kosovo independence took center stage in China's diplomatic jousting with Taiwan, which has been self-governing since the Chinese civil war in 1949 but which the Beijing regime considers to still be part of China.

China's Foreign Ministry criticized Taiwan for welcoming Kosovo's independence, saying the island's government did not meet the criteria for recognizing other countries.

"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," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement posted on the ministry's Web site.

Video   Kosovo analysis Feb. 18: Professor Ruth Wedgwood, an expert on international law, analyzes Kosovo’s declaration of independence and prospects for its future. NBC News Web Extra

China has good ties with Serbia and expressed "deep concern" over Kosovo's independence declaration.

For Beijing, the announcement conjures up one of its greatest fears: that Taiwan could some day make a similar declaration, something China says it would meet with military force. Chinese leaders also worry about separatist sentiments in the heavily Muslim regions of western China.

Spain, which has battled a violent Basque separatist movement for decades, was the biggest European Union nation to oppose Kosovo independence. Greece, Romania and Cyprus also are against Kosovo's new status.

In Bucharest, Romanian President Traian Basescu called Kosovo's declaration "an illegal act" — a position rooted in Romania's traditional close ties with Serbia.

British Foreign Secretary defended the move by Kosovo's Albanians, saying the EU was keen to close the book on "two decades of violence and conflict and strife" in the western Balkans.

"There is a very strong head of steam building among a wide range of (EU) countries that do see this as the piece of the Yugoslav jigsaw and don't see stability in the western Balkans being established without the aspirations of the Kosovar people being respected," he said.

More from msnbc.com In slump-hit areas, suicide rates on the rise Brokaw:  The night the wall came down Germany still coping with ‘wall in the mind’ Is the swine flu shot as safe as regular vaccine? Signs of the sacrifices of military life On Twitter: Breaking news updates | Weird and wild

MORE FROM EUROPE

Europe Section Front

Brokaw: The night the wall came down Germany marks fall of Berlin Wall NYT: Legacy of ’89 is still up for debate Swiss: Pair detained in Libya delivered to embassy Queen leads Britain's ceremony for war dead Wig-wearing mob fugitive nabbed in Italy Fair targets France’s 260,000 annual divorces Clinton: Berlin Wall festivities not just a party How NBC got its ’89 Berlin Wall scoop Europe Section Front   Add Europe headlines to your news reader: