The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman for supporting Lithuania developing ties with Taiwan during her call with Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis.
Sherman and Landsbergis during their talk on Friday “emphasized the strength and breadth of the US-Lithuanian bilateral relationship, which is grounded in our NATO Alliance; strengthening US-EU cooperation, including on China; and our common commitment to advance peace, prosperity, security, democracy, and human rights in the Transatlantic region and across the globe,” US Department of State spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.
Sherman “reiterated the United States is resolute in our solidarity with our NATO Ally and EU partner Lithuania, including standing with them in the face of the People’s Republic of China’s recent coercive behavior in response to Lithuania’s decision to develop mutually beneficial ties with Taiwan,” he said.
Photo: CNA
The Baltic country’s relations with China soured after it agreed with Taiwan’s plan to establish a Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania. It also plans to open a representative office in Taiwan this fall.
Lithuanian Ambassador to China Diana Mickeviciene on Wednesday said she had been asked to leave the country, one day after Beijing recalled its Ambassador Shen Zhifei (申知非) from Vilnius.
“Our strength is our allies & shared conviction that freedom & democracy will prevail,” Landsbergis wrote on Twitter yesterday.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement thanked the US for its firm support.
Washington has demonstrated its position as a leader of the global alliance of democracies at a time when other democratic countries are facing coercion by an authoritarian regime, the ministry said.
The ministry reiterated its stance that it would continue to promote practical and mutually beneficial relations with other like-minded partners, without flinching due to any outside pressure.
The Taipei Mission in the Republic of Latvia, which also oversees relations with Lithuania, on Friday rejected a statement published by the Chinese embassy in Lithuania in a local newspaper on Saturday last week.
The Chinese embassy’s statement that “Taiwan is part of China” is misleading and false, the mission said in a statement.
The Republic of China (Taiwan) is a sovereign state that has never been governed by the People’s Republic of China, it said.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency as well as long-term residency in Taiwan has decreased, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, adding that the reduction of Chinese spouses staying or living in Taiwan is only one facet reflecting the general decrease in the number of people willing to get married in Taiwan. The number of Chinese spouses applying for dependent residency last year was 7,123, down by 2,931, or 29.15 percent, from the previous year. The same census showed that the number of Chinese spouses applying for long-term residency and receiving approval last year stood at 2,973, down 1,520,
RSS