Taiwan is not alone
Taiwan opened a representative office, a de facto embassy, in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Nov. 18. It is the nation’s first new diplomatic mission in Europe in 18 years. More significantly, the office bears the name “Taiwan” instead of “Taipei” — a move that has come despite pressure from the People’s Republic of China, which claims that Taiwan is part of its territory.
China officially downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania a few days after protesting in vain over the opening.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) was asked at a news conference on Monday last week “whether China has any intention of severing diplomatic relations with Lithuania.” Rather than responding positively, he threw the ball back to Lithuania, apparently hoping the country would correct its “mistake” and return to the right track.
More dramatically, 10 lawmakers from the three Baltic states on Sunday landed in Taiwan for a visit. They met with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday, expressing the willingness to foster long-term cooperation between EU nations and Taiwan.
It was also the first joint visit by lawmakers from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
Not surprisingly, no less than 27 Chinese military aircraft flew into Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone on the day of the lawmakers’ arrival. It is believed to be a sign of intimidation, but again, the bullying was in vain.
As a result, Lithuanian lawmaker Dovile Sakaliene wrote on Twitter within a few hours of her arrival: “PRC is welcoming our delegation to #Taiwan with threats. CCP [Chinese Communist Party] will never understand how #democracy works. #Taiwan is and will be our friend.”
It was another way of supporting Taiwan, after US Representative Nancy Mace deliberately used “Republic of Taiwan” on social media right after arriving in Taiwan on Thursday last week.
Those statements are reflecting the slogan: “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
The first words of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities — “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times” — has been quoted many times, referring to many issues.
For Taiwan, the visits from the US and the three Baltic states signify a turning point or breakthrough.
Taiwan is not alone. Eventually, democracy will defeat communism in “A Strait of two countries.”
Fang Fu-Chuan
Taichung
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