The global community should know that an unfettered China would cause suffering in the region and across the world, Lithuanian lawmaker Dovile Sakaliene said during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday.
Sakaliene, the vice chair of the Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with Taiwan, is leading a nine-member delegation from the Lithuanian Committee on National Security and Defense on a visit to Taiwan.
The world is at a turning point and those who want peace must prepare for war, she said, adding that Taiwan has been staring down China’s threats, pressure and persecution on a daily basis.
Photo: AP
Taiwanese exercising their right to self-determination face an unfair situation where Taiwan must make exceptional achievements in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and contributions to the world just to be seen by other countries, she said.
Citing her family’s history of persecution under the Soviet Union, Sakaliene said history shows that allowing China free rein would lead to harm not only in the region, but the whole world.
The international community was wrong about Russia, a mistake that Ukraine, Europe and the rest of the world are now paying for, she said.
Protecting Taiwan against aggression is key to world peace and requires comprehensive cooperation across multiple domains, she said in a call for closer ties between the nation and Lithuania.
Lithuania sympathizes with Taiwan’s situation of being a free and democratic nation that faces steep geopolitical challenges, delegation coleader and committee chair Laurynas Kasciunas said.
Anti-communism is “in the DNA” of Lithuanians and Taiwanese, ensuring the two peoples would stand together in their shared quest to establish an exemplary democracy in their countries, he said.
Deepening bilateral ties would be beneficial to both nations, as Vilnius wants a trade partner to grow its economy, while Taipei needs a friend in the EU, he said, emphasizing collaborations in security, defense, investment and trade.
Tsai expressed Taiwan’s willingness to bolster its relations with the Baltic nation, saying that the establishment of the Taiwan Representative Office in Lithuania shows the government’s commitment to forming partnerships with other democracies.
Taiwan and Lithuania are boosting bilateral cooperation in areas such as countering disinformation and strengthening cybersecurity, as well as civil defense management, she said.
The nation is able and willing to share its experience with democratic allies in the fight to contain the spread of authoritarianism and preserve the free way of life, Tsai said, before thanking the lawmakers and Vilnius for their support for Taiwan.
Lithuanian deputy ministers of foreign affairs, agriculture, and economy and innovation have separately visited Taipei, while a Taiwanese delegation led by National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) visited Vilnius, she said.
Taiwan strives to maintain prosperity and stability in the region, and hopes its improving partnership with Luthiania would contribute to democratic resilience across the globe, Tsai said.
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
STAYING ALERT: China this week deployed its largest maritime show of force to date in the region, prompting concern in Taipei and Tokyo, which Beijing has brushed off Deterring conflict over Taiwan is a priority, the White House said in its National Security Strategy published yesterday, which also called on Japan and South Korea to increase their defense spending to help protect the first island chain. Taiwan is strategically positioned between Northeast and Southeast Asia, and provides direct access to the second island chain, with one-third of global shipping passing through the South China Sea, the report said. Given the implications for the US economy, along with Taiwan’s dominance in semiconductors, “deterring a conflict over Taiwan, ideally by preserving military overmatch, is a priority,” it said. However, the strategy also reiterated
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
RSS