A delegation led by Lithuanian Parliament Speaker Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen last night arrived in Taiwan, the highest-level official from a Baltic country to visit Taiwan to date.
Ciliate-Nielsen was greeted at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport by Legislative Speaker You Si-kun. The delegation is today to attend a banquet hosted by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
Cmilyte-Nielsen was joined by Lithuanian Vice Minister of Finance Vaida Markeviciene, chief of staff to the speaker Lukas Kornelijus Vaiciakas, chief foreign policy adviser to the speaker Rolandas Kacinskas, Lithuanian International Relations Unit Director Snieguole Ziukaite and Lithuanian Financial Market Policy Department deputy head Vilma Macerauskiene, among others.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
Presidential Office spokeswoman Lin Yu-chan (林聿禪) yesterday expressed the office’s “sincere welcome” to the delegation, and referred to Cmilyte-Nielsen as a “solid friend” of Taiwan in Europe.
The president is to discuss economic cooperation with the delegation and exchange views on Indo-Pacific regional security, she said.
The visit follows an earlier delegation to Taiwan in January led by Laurynas Kasciunas, chair of the Lithuanian Seimas’ Committee on National Security and Defense, as well as a Baltic states parliamentary delegation on Aug. 10, which included Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian officials.
“Taiwan and Lithuania are international partners who share universal values such as democracy and freedom,” Lin said. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lithuania made two donations of vaccines to Taiwan, which is a good example of the circle of good that exists among global democratic partners.”
Taiwan is working to expand and diversify cooperation and exchanges with European countries to create a more resilient global democratic network, she said.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated that Taiwan and Lithuania share a strong friendship, citing Lithuania’s hosting of You in Vilnius in July last year.
Cmilyte-Nielsen also demonstrated this friendship when she spoke up for Taiwan following former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei last year, when China conducted military drills and missile launches around Taiwan, the ministry said.
During her visit to Taiwan this week, Cmilyte-Nielsen is expected to speak at the Legislative Yuan, where she is to receive a Medal of Honor from You, it said.
The delegation is also expected to visit the Ultrafast Laser Technology Research and Innovation Center as part of talks on economic cooperation, it said.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
A global survey showed that 60 percent of Taiwanese had attained higher education, second only to Canada, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan easily surpassed the global average of 43 percent and ranked ahead of major economies, including Japan, South Korea and the US, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for 2024 showed. Taiwan has a high literacy rate, data released by the ministry showed. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had 20.617 million people aged 15 or older, accounting for 88.5 percent of the total population, with a literacy rate of 99.4 percent, the data
CCP ‘PAWN’? Beijing could use the KMT chairwoman’s visit to signal to the world that many people in Taiwan support the ‘one China’ principle, an academic said Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) yesterday arrived in China for a “peace” mission and potential meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), while a Taiwanese minister detailed the number of Chinese warships currently deployed around the nation. Cheng is visiting at a time of increased Chinese military pressure on Taiwan, as the opposition-dominated Legislative Yuan stalls a government plan for US$40 billion in extra defense spending. Speaking to reporters before going to the airport, Cheng said she was going on a “historic journey for peace,” but added that some people felt uneasy about her trip. “If you truly love Taiwan,
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
RSS