government hired Ambassador-at-Large Chiu Hungdah, Jeffrey Koo Sr., and Gene Loh I-Cheng to prepare the aid program.

Executive Yuan President Siew Wan-chang led a delegation to Macedonia, along with five legislators, to begin the visit.

[2] On August 5, 1998, Ambassador-at-Large Gene Loh I-Cheng was going to travel to Pristina first, but the exposure of US$300 million in aid in the Taiwanese media caused discontent among some European countries.

This was later considered by public opinion to be the main reason why the $1 billion foreign aid pledge helped Tupelkovsky and Georgievski win the election.

[3] Ljubco Georgievski's rightist party VMRO-DPMNE had numerical doubts about Tupurkovski's $1 billion, but nevertheless trusted in the economic promises to form a coalition government with the left-wing Democratic Alternative (DA).

[4] On February 25, China launched diplomatic retaliation and opposed the continued dispatch of intervention forces to Macedonia in a UN resolution, the fifth time Beijing has used a veto in the Security Council.