The “status quo” of the Taiwan Strait cannot be changed unilaterally, and “any eventual resolution must be found via diplomacy and dialogue,” a delegation comprising the heads of the Estonian, Lithuanian and Latvian parliaments’ foreign affairs committees said yesterday
Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament, Zygimantas Pavilionis, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Seimas, and Rihards Kols, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Latvian Saeima, arrived in Taiwan yesterday on a six-day visit, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Pavilionis called them the “Three Baltic Musketeers” in a tweet on X, announcing the start of their visit to the “beacon of freedom, democracy, human rights & rules-based order.”
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Kols described the trip as a “fact-finding mission/visit” that would focus on security and defense, business, cultural ties and economic partnerships.
“The visit shows a shared policy in relations with Taiwan in accordance with EU policy,” the Estonian Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee said in a news release on Saturday.
The three “underline that the status quo in the Taiwan Strait cannot be changed unilaterally, and they oppose the use or threat of force. Any eventual resolution must be found via diplomacy and dialogue,” it said.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Taiwan Presidential Office
In other developments, Lithuanian lawmaker Matas Maldeikis told the Voice of America that Taiwan would ultimately benefit from Lithuania’s success in resisting Chinese economic coercion and political bullying.
“Lithuania was well aware that it would pay a huge price for supporting Taiwan, including commercial losses, but it will not compromise with the [Chinese] Communist Party,” Maldeikis was quoted as saying in a report published in Chinese on Saturday.
“In the long run, the biggest winner from what is happening here [in Europe] is Taiwan,” he said.
In 2021, Taiwan opened the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania in the capital, Vilnius, using the name “Taiwanese” with the permission of Lithuania, instead of “Taipei,” which most countries use for fear of provoking Beijing.
China then imposed economic sanctions on Lithuania, downgraded diplomatic ties between them and withdrew its ambassador from Vilnius, while demanding the European country do the same.
Beijing envisioned a quick win, believing that the Lithuanian government would cave in or make concessions, Maldeikis told the Voice of America.
“The result was unexpected,” he added.
NATO held a summit in Vilnius last month and Lithuania’s exports grew 45 percent in a year and a half after China imposed the sanctions, Maldeikis said.
Lithuania showed other nations that by disobeying China a country can still win, he said.
“We will not sell ourselves out for the Chinese market, nor will we deceive ourselves and others by saying that nothing happened to sell products to the Chinese market,” he said.
Lithuanians standing up to Beijing “forces the EU to stop hiding behind diplomatic, but sometimes meaningless rhetoric when it comes to the situation in the Taiwan Strait,” Una Aleksandra Berzina-Cerenkova, director of Riga Stradins University’s China Studies Centre, said in the Voice of America piece.
The “wolf-warrior diplomacy” practiced by China over the past few years has fueled resentment among Lithuanians, Maldeikis said.
Under the leadership of the US, a new wave of support for Taiwan has emerged in the international community, he said.
In Lithuania, taking a supportive stance toward Taiwan and a firm stance against China helps win votes for politicians, he said.
However, relations between Taiwan and Lithuania sparked controversy last month when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wang Hong-wei (王鴻薇) said that Taiwan provided funds and technology to produce 8-inch silicon wafers in Lithuania to cultivate ties.
Representative to Lithuania Eric Huang (黃鈞耀) told the Voice of America that it was a mutually beneficial program with funding provided by both sides.
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS