Lithuania on Wednesday announced that it would donate a second batch of 235,900 doses of AstraZeneca PLC’s COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan in a gesture that reflects the warm ties between the two nations.
The shipment is scheduled to arrive in Taiwan next month. The eastern European country’s first donation of 20,000 AstraZeneca doses arrived in Taiwan on July 31.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said in a statement that the latest donation was part of her country’s efforts to assist other countries in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Global vaccines equity and solidarity are crucial in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, which, unfortunately, continues to disrupt the lives of people and countries around the world,” she said.
The Taipei Mission in the Republic of Latvia, which also promotes relations with Lithuania, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday: “Even though this donation seems to be another manifestation of virtuous circle, we are still most grateful for Lithuanian double generosity.”
In Taipei, Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) on Wednesday night said that Taiwan appreciates Lithuania’s solid support, despite the distance between the two nations.
“The warm friendship between diplomatic partners knows no borders,” he said.
This second donation of COVID-19 vaccines again displays Lithuania’s love for democracy, and its strong and warm support for diplomatic partners, Chang said.
The “circle of good” between the two nations would definitely overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic, he added.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement late on Wednesday that a trade delegation being organized by the government plans to visit three eastern European countries next month, including Lithuania, to explore bilateral commerce and investment opportunities.
The two nations are set to reciprocate representative offices by the end of this year in a show of solidarity between democracies, it said.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS