Lithuania is expecting more cooperation with Taiwan on defense, security and the economy after fruitful discussions during a visit to the nation, a visiting Lithuanian delegation told a news conference yesterday.
The nine-member parliamentary delegation from the National Security and Defense Committee arrived in Taiwan on Monday for a six-day visit.
Sending a cross-party delegation to Taiwan shows “quite a strong consensus in Lithuania on our relations with Taiwan,” committee head Laurynas Kasciunas told reporters at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
On her second visit to Taiwan, Dovile Sakaliene, vice chair of the Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with Taiwan, said that ties between Lithuania and Taiwan are “developing quite quickly and in the right direction.”
Former Lithuanian minister of foreign affairs Audronius Azubalis said that compared with his first visit to Taiwan 25 years ago, “I see tremendous progress in your country.”
The sustainability of relations between the two nations is important in the fields of defense and security, Lithuanian lawmaker Eugenijus Sabutis said.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
Lithuania and Taiwan are facing the same problems posed by aggressive neighbors, so have many common issues to share, Lithuanian lawmaker Edita Rudeliene said.
Despite the distance between the two nations, “we are bridged together by common values,” Lithuanian lawmaker Ieva Pakarklyte said.
The main purpose of the visit is to discuss topics related to defense and security, Kasciunas said.
Commenting on Taiwan’s plan to reinstate one year of mandatory military service next year, he said: “It is very, very wise.”
After exchanging ideas and plans with Taiwan, the two sides can foresee cooperation in many areas, including cybersecurity and combating disinformation and propaganda, Sakaliene said.
A group of Lithuanian companies would likely sign a major economic cooperation pact with Taiwanese companies next week, Pakarklyte said.
Speaking of the changes brought by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Sakaliene said that Lithuania, Taiwan and Ukraine are “icebreakers in changing the mentality that is old and outdated” to help the world realize that “by withdrawing, we only incite the aggressor to attack,”
“Taiwan’s help to Ukraine also helps Taiwan,” as it provides European nations with more motivation to help Taiwan, she added.
Separately yesterday, Spanish lawmaker Rosa Romero Sanchez said that Spain’s Congress of Deputies opposes any unilateral action to alter the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait.
Romero Sanchez, president of the Spanish lower house’s Health and Consumer Commission, made the comment at a news conference, adding that China and Taiwan should engage in constructive dialogue.
She said that the Spanish lower house issued a statement on Oct. 6 last year to express its concerns over tensions in the Taiwan Strait.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it was the first time since the severing of diplomatic relations that a Spanish legislative branch had issued a statement in support of Taiwan.
Romero Sanchez said that she and her delegation are visiting Taiwan to explore opportunities to deepen bilateral ties.
Romero Sanchez arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday for a five-day visit with a delegation that also includes Spanish lawmakers Jaime de Olano, Ricardo Tarno Blanco, Jose Angel Alonso and Juan Diego Requena.
Unlike the German, Lithuanian and Tuvaluan parliamentary groups that have visited Taiwan over the past week, the Spanish delegation was not scheduled to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) or Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌).
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
RULES BROKEN: The MAC warned Chinese not to say anything that would be harmful to the autonomous status of Taiwan or undermine its sovereignty A Chinese couple accused of disrupting a pro-democracy event in Taipei organized by Hong Kong residents has been deported, the National Immigration Agency said in a statement yesterday afternoon. A Chinese man, surnamed Yao (姚), and his wife were escorted by immigration officials to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, where they boarded a flight to China before noon yesterday, the agency said. The agency said that it had annulled the couple’s entry permits, citing alleged contraventions of the Regulations Governing the Approval of Entry of People of the Mainland Area into the Taiwan Area (大陸地區人民進入台灣地區許可辦法). The couple applied to visit a family member in
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