An application from Lithuania to open a representative office in Taiwan has been received, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The ministry expressed its sincere welcome to Lithuania for opening an office in Taiwan and would assist as necessary, it said.
Confirmation of the application came after Lithuanian Minister of the Economy and Innovation Ausrine Armonaite said that her country was well prepared to open such an office.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“We are fully ready to open a Lithuanian trade office,” Armonaite told the Central News Agency. “And I just sent a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan, so that we could receive the official certificate so that we can open it officially, but the preparatory work is already being conducted. And we are fully ready now.”
Ministry deputy spokesman Tsuei Ching-lin (崔靜麟) said that after Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on July 20 last year announced that Taiwan would open a representative office in Vilnius, Lithuania began the amendment process to set up an office in Taiwan.
The Taiwanese Representative Office opened on Nov. 18.
In late September last year, Lithuania’s parliament passed a legislative revision that gave the green light to open a representative office in countries like Taiwan with which the Baltic state does not have formal diplomatic relations.
Armonaite said at the time that the move by parliament would allow Lithuania to explore overseas business opportunities by boosting economic ties with other countries.
Taiwan and Lithuania are at the strategic forefront of defending democracy and freedom, and have become two like-minded partners in safeguarding their shared ideals and values, the ministry said.
Both sides have supported each other amid the COVID-19 pandemic, overcoming difficulties posed by the disease, it said.
The ministry said it firmly believes that after an office has been established on each side, Taiwan and Lithuania would step up cooperation in a wide range of fields, including post-pandemic economic recovery, trade and investment, and education and scientific research, as well as supply chain security.
Lithuania has faced political and economic pressure from Beijing over its decision to allow the use of the word “Taiwanese” in the name of Taiwan’s representative office in the Baltic state.
Taiwan typically uses “Taipei Economic and Cultural Office” or “Taipei Representative Office” as names for its de facto embassies in most countries, mainly because the host country adheres to Beijing’s “one China” principle.
Tropical Storm Koinu is expected to come closest to Taiwan from Wednesday through Friday as it passes through the Bashi Channel, but it remained uncertain how it would affect the weather, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am yesterday, Koinu was about 1,000km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, and was moving northwest at 12kph, the CWA said. Koinu is likely to strengthen into a typhoon today or tomorrow and turn west as it enters the Bashi Channel to the south of Taiwan proper, CWA forecaster Chao Hung (趙竑) said. The storm’s trajectory is still unclear, so more time is
Taichung prosecutors yesterday indicted three people on charges of fraud for allegedly passing off watches assembled in Taiwan as Swiss-made timepieces and earning NT$400 million (US$12.4 million) in illicit gains. The Taichung branch office of the Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau said in a statement that the group, headed by Mei Hua Precision Industry Co (梅華精密) and Laora Trading Co (仁徠貿易) manager Yang Hung-pin (楊鴻斌), had purchased the rights to use the Swiss trademark Ogival years ago and from November 2006 to December 2020 sold 26,282 counterfeit watches in department stores and online platforms in Taiwan. The branch office said they received
PALAU LAUNCHES: The source said that Taiwanese military personnel traveled to Palau, where a US brigade watched their work amid plans for a defense network The military last month participated in live-fire launches of MM-104F Patriot (PAC-3) missiles under US observation in an undisclosed location in Palau, a step forward in a US-led plan to create a joint defense missile system in the first island chain, a source said on condition of anonymity. The PAC-3 is the mainstay surface-to-air missile of the US, NATO and democratic nations in East Asia, the source said, adding that it has never been live-tested within Taiwan’s borders, the source said. The proximity of Taiwan to China and China’s close surveillance of the nation’s borders and nearby sea zones is a significant
TRAJECTORY: Koinu’s outer rim is expected to reach Orchid Island early tomorrow and Taitung at about noon, where waves of at least 6m are forecast A sea warning for Typhoon Koinu was issued at 11:30pm last night, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that a land warning could be issued today. High waves of about 2m were observed in Taitung yesterday, while waves of 6m or higher were forecast for today, said Huang Chia-mei (黃嘉美), head of the CWA’s Taitung Weather Station. At noon yesterday, Koinu was about 660km southeast of Taitung, she said, adding that it was moving more to the north and its center could possibly make landfall. The storm’s outer rim would likely reach Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) in the early hours tomorrow and
RSS