ALSO: Yugoslavia masses troops near Kosovo as shooting resumes

UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- China, angry at Macedonia for establishing ties with Taiwan, Thursday vetoed extending a U.N. peacekeeping force patrolling Macedonia's borders.

China rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution to renew for another six months the 1,100-strong U.N. Preventive Deployment Force, or UNPREDEP, patrolling Macedonia's borders with Yugoslavia and Albania. UNPREDEP's mandate expires Sunday.

The vote was 13-1 to extend the mandate, with Russia abstaining. But because China is one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, its veto automatically kills any resolution. Thursday marked only the fifth time China has ever vetoed a Security Council resolution.

Diplomats said they were disappointed, because of the situation in neighboring Kosovo, where Serbs have cracked down on an independence movement by ethnic Albanians. They fear violence in Kosovo could spill over into Macedonia, which has a sizable ethnic Albanian minority.

"We do not think that reasons that are extraneous to the situation on the ground should be (used) to counter the proposal" to keep the force in Macedonia, said Jeremy Greenstock, British ambassador to the United Nations.

China's veto follows a decision by Macedonia last month to open diplomatic relations with Taiwan. China severed ties with Macedonia, as it has with every nation that recognizes Taiwan as a nation. Beijing sees the island as a renegade province of mainland China.

Taiwan has diplomatic relations with only 28 countries, most of them small and poor countries in Latin America and Africa that it supports with aid, loans and investment.

Macedonia received promises from Taiwan for direct economic aid worth $235 million and possibilities for $1 billion in investments.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Alexander Dimitrov told state-owned radio Thursday that the government never expected China would use the Taiwan dispute to block the extension because the troops had done such a good job stabilizing the region.

"Macedonia has a legitimate right to establish relations with any country," Dimitrov said.

U.N. diplomats said they were considering alternatives to UNPREDEP, including NATO troops already in Macedonia. They said they would also press China to reconsider its decision.

UNPREDEP was established in Macedonia in 1992 to prevent the Bosnian war from spreading south. The force, composed of U.S., Scandinavian and Indonesian troops, was recently strengthened as the conflict in Kosovo escalated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.