Lithuania reaffirmed via videoconference yesterday evening its intention to open a trade office in Taiwan this spring, while Taiwan reiterated pledges of US$200 million in investment funds and US$1 billion in credit loans, as the two nations work toward deepening their economic cooperation.
National Development Council (NDC) Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said that the government and businesses in Taiwan have come up with concrete details and projects to fulfill pledges they made during a delegation’s visit to the European country in October last year.
“Whichever companies from Taiwan and Lithuania are interested in investment projects or joint ventures in Lithuania can apply for the investment funds and credit loans,” Kung said.
Photo: CNA
The pledge remains valid as long as projects and ventures benefit both sides, Kung said when asked by reporters from Lithuania if there were conditions on funding approval.
Lithuania drew the ire of Beijing after allowing the opening of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius in November last year, as Beijing considers the use of the word “Taiwanese” a contravention of its “one China” principle.
Taiwan can raise the amounts of the investment fund and credit loans if necessary, Kung said.
The two sides signed six memorandums of understanding last year on cooperation in semiconductor talent, the semiconductor industry, biotechnology, and scientific research and development, among other areas.
Lithuanian Minister of the Economy and Innovation Ausrine Armonaite said that companies in her country are capable of taking part in making 28-nanometer and 40-nanometer chips, while the country’s laser industry is a global leader.
Lithuania would like to tap into the semiconductor industry, in which Taiwanese companies command a technological lead, she said.
The trade office in Taiwan is under administrative review and should be established soon, along with outposts in other parts of the world, she said.
The investment fund would be used in grooming Lithuania’s human resources and manufacturing industries, the minister said, declining to elaborate out of respect for interested corporations.
Armonaite asked for Taiwan’s help with exports because Beijing is punishing her country for its friendly interactions with Taiwan.
Exports account for 70 percent of Lithuania’s GDP, according to World Bank data.
Kung promised to lend a helping hand and said that a trade office in Taiwan would help expand the scope of cooperation.
Lithuanian said its exports to Taiwan totaled 19 million euros (US$21.54 million) in 2020, while imports from Taiwan totaled 66 million euros, less than 1 percent of its foreign trade, which indicates that there is ample room for growth.
‘ABUSE OF POWER’: Lee Chun-yi allegedly used a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon and take his wife to restaurants, media reports said Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) resigned on Sunday night, admitting that he had misused a government vehicle, as reported by the media. Control Yuan Vice President Lee Hung-chun (李鴻鈞) yesterday apologized to the public over the issue. The watchdog body would follow up on similar accusations made by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and would investigate the alleged misuse of government vehicles by three other Control Yuan members: Su Li-chiung (蘇麗瓊), Lin Yu-jung (林郁容) and Wang Jung-chang (王榮璋), Lee Hung-chun said. Lee Chun-yi in a statement apologized for using a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a
Taiwan yesterday denied Chinese allegations that its military was behind a cyberattack on a technology company in Guangzhou, after city authorities issued warrants for 20 suspects. The Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau earlier yesterday issued warrants for 20 people it identified as members of the Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM). The bureau alleged they were behind a May 20 cyberattack targeting the backend system of a self-service facility at the company. “ICEFCOM, under Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, directed the illegal attack,” the warrant says. The bureau placed a bounty of 10,000 yuan (US$1,392) on each of the 20 people named in
INDO-PACIFIC REGION: Royal Navy ships exercise the right of freedom of navigation, including in the Taiwan Strait and South China Sea, the UK’s Tony Radakin told a summit Freedom of navigation in the Indo-Pacific region is as important as it is in the English Channel, British Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Tony Radakin said at a summit in Singapore on Saturday. The remark came as the British Royal Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier, the HMS Prince of Wales, is on an eight-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region as head of an international carrier strike group. “Upholding the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and with it, the principles of the freedom of navigation, in this part of the world matters to us just as it matters in the
The High Court yesterday found a New Taipei City woman guilty of charges related to helping Beijing secure surrender agreements from military service members. Lee Huei-hsin (李慧馨) was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison for breaching the National Security Act (國家安全法), making illegal compacts with government employees and bribery, the court said. The verdict is final. Lee, the manager of a temple in the city’s Lujhou District (蘆洲), was accused of arranging for eight service members to make surrender pledges to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army in exchange for money, the court said. The pledges, which required them to provide identification
RSS