Lithuania aims to better harness the economic potential of cooperation with Taiwan, while also restoring “normal diplomatic relations” with China, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda was quoted as saying on Thursday.
“We are interested in normal diplomatic relations with China, but at the same time we want to maintain relations with Taiwan, because they have great potential,” the Lithuanian Radio and Television quoted Nauseda as saying.
Lithuania’s top leaders share a unified position on China, he told reporters after a meeting at the Presidential Palace to discuss foreign policy and security issues.
Photo: Bloomberg
All decisions made by the Lithuanian government in regard to relations with Taiwan have been based on international law, and the decision to name the de facto embassy of Taiwan in Lithuania as the Taiwanese Representative Office does not mean that Lithuania questions the “one China” policy, he said.
“We were not heard, we have to admit that,” Nauseda said. “We are still not fully heard today when we say that we respect the ‘one China’ principle.”
If there is goodwill from Beijing, Lithuania sees a possibility of gradually restoring diplomatic representation at the charge d’affaires level, and eventually at the ambassadorial level, he said, calling for “more dialogue, less unilateralism, less attempts to impose one’s opinion.”
“We all want to preserve relations with Taiwan, better use their potential and move toward concrete forms of cooperation that bring tangible results,” he said. “But we are also very willing to renew dialogue with China — on an equal footing.”
“We are certainly not prepared to kneel and say that we made a mistake,” he added.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene earlier this month described a 2021 decision to let Taiwan set up a de facto embassy in the capital as a “mistake.”
Ruginiene reportedly said she thought it was possible to rename the Taiwanese Representative Office, and to use the name Taipei instead.
Nauseda at the time said the office’s name is primarily the responsibility of Taiwan and that any change would not depend solely on Lithuania.
In the years since the office was opened, Taiwan’s potential has been used “only to a small extent,” the report cited him as saying.
“We can certainly do more,” Nauseda said, adding that the laser industry was one area where cooperation with Taiwan has been particularly close, but broader expectations have not been fully met.
“We cannot boast of much else, although there were many expectations and many promises. We agreed that we need to sit down again and discuss specifically how we intend to develop our economic cooperation in the future,” he said, calling for “fewer declarations and more concrete commitments from both sides.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said there has been no discussion about changing the office’s name.
The name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania was based on a consensus reached by both sides and there is no discussion about changing it, ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said earlier this month.
Additional reporting by CNA
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