The Baltic states — Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania — in 1940 were invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Joseph Stalin and the auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, a nonaggression treaty between Germany and the Soviets signed in 1939.
Conducting illegal surveillance, detention and execution, the Soviet Union carried out the June Deportation of 1941, in which 95,000 people were exiled to Siberian labor camps for “re-education.”
The victims included civil servants, military personnel, police officers, teachers, wealthy businesspeople, elderly people, women and children. Most of these “class enemies” never lived to see their homeland again.
Moscow attempted to “Sovietize” the Baltic states by introducing Russians, the Russian language and ideological education in the three countries, while saying that they “voluntarily joined the Soviet Union.”
On Aug. 23, 1989 — the 50th anniversary of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact — national movements such as the Estonian Popular Front initiated the “Baltic way,” a peaceful political demonstration to fight for their sovereignty and freedom. At 7pm, more than 2 million inhabitants of the Baltic states joined hands to form a human chain of 690km connecting the Baltic capitals — Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius.
Among the participants, there were elderly people with walking canes, babies in their swaddles, Forest Brothers — Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian partisans, also known as “Forest Friars” — often in wheelchairs, and people who saw their family members taken away. Holding candles, they sang to commemorate their family members under the billowing flags of their nations.
At a time without mobile phones, the Internet or social media, the Baltic people demonstrated exceptional courage to stand up for their freedom regardless of the leadership in Moscow, which led to the Baltic states recovering their independence.
After restoring their sovereignty, the Baltic states started to work on transition and recovery.
However, the Russian threat never ceased. As one-quarter of Latvia’s population are ethnic Russians, linguistic and ethnic proximity has made Latvia more vulnerable to information warfare. According to the Sweden-based researchers at the V-Dem Institute, Latvia is the second-most targeted country by foreign governments spreading false information, while the most targeted country is none other than Taiwan.
The Baltic states’ protest has marked its 33rd anniversary, while Taiwan’s Hand-in-Hand Rally to commemorate the 228 Incident marked its 18th anniversary.
For the past few decades, the Baltic states and Taiwan have proved they are sovereign, peace-loving nations that value democracy, human rights and the international order.
In contrast, China and Russia have been irresponsible troublemakers and violators of human rights — from the cover-up of the initial COVID-19 outbreak in China, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has led to an energy and food crisis around the world, to China’s repeated threats of annexing Taiwan by force and changing the “status quo” in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Baltic states and Taiwan were once in the same boat of having to suffer at the hands of dictators.
However, these small yet resilient nations have risen up to strive for democracy and freedom. As targets of intimidation, Taiwanese would be able to stand up to their nation’s bellicose neighbor and prevail against it with dignity — just like David did over Goliath in the Bible.
Hsu Meng-wei holds a master’s degree in public policy and administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Translated by Rita Wang
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