Lithuania plans to open a representative office in Taiwan by the end of the year, Lithuanian Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Mantas Adomenas said, reflecting a desire for the two countries to forge closer ties.
A vice minister-level official from the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Ministry of Economy and Innovation would attend the opening ceremony, Adomenas said in an online interview earlier this week.
“Opening an office [in Taiwan] is an important event,” he said.
Although no decision has been finalized on which official would attend, Adomenas, who has visited Taiwan several times, said he would like to visit the “lovely” nation again, describing Taiwan as “a very mature and very vibrant, dynamic democracy.”
The representative office could be named the “Lithuanian Representative Office” or the “Lithuanian Trade Representative Office,” but the title was still being discussed within the government, he said.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Economy and Innovation would run the office after it opens, Adomenas said.
“We very much hope we can develop mutually respectful relations with Taiwan and deepen economic and cultural relations,” he said.
Adomenas said that he expected the office to be organized similarly to Lithuanian embassies in other countries, with four to five officials and some locally hired staff.
As Lithuania and Taiwan do not have diplomatic relations, the Baltic state’s government has to amend laws to “create this new type of entity,” he said.
Once parliament opens its fall session, those amendments would be placed at the top of its agenda for review, Adomenas said, adding that after they are approved, the government would try to open the Taipei office by the end of this year.
On July 20, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) announced that Taiwan would open a representative office in Lithuania to expand its relations with the country and other Central European nations.
The office, to be named “The Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania,” would be located in the capital, Vilnius, Wu said.
It would be the first representative office Taiwan has opened in Europe since it set up an office in Slovakia in 2003, but no specific date has been set for the opening.
MONITORED BY JETS: Chinese aircraft included Y-20 aerial refueling aircraft, suggesting that China refueled its short-range jets during flight The air force scrambled again yesterday to warn away 27 Chinese aircraft that entered its air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the Ministry of National Defense said, the latest increase in tensions across the sensitive Taiwan Strait. Taiwan has complained for a year or more of repeated missions by China’s air force near the nation, often in the southwestern part of its ADIZ, close to the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). Over a four-day period beginning on Oct. 1, when China marked its national day, Taiwan said that nearly 150 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) military aircraft entered its ADIZ, not territorial
The boyfriend of Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) was yesterday questioned by prosecutors after Kao on Tuesday reported that he had abused her. Raphael Lin (林秉樞) was taken in for questioning at the Grand Forward Hotel in New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋) yesterday morning, and police confiscated his mobile phone, iPad and a data storage device, prosecutors said, adding that they have applied to place Lin in judicial detention. Lin, who does not reside at his registered address, might attempt to flee or tamper with evidence, they said, adding that he has allegedly threatened victims in earlier abuse cases
PAST CATCHING UP: Raphael Lin was last year convicted of intimidating his girlfriend at the time, and in 2015 allegedly confined his parents and assaulted his mother Doctoral student and media commentator Raphael Lin (林秉樞) is in detention and has had his communication rights limited after he was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly subjecting Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kao Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) to two days of violence in a hotel room, the New Taipei District Court said yesterday. The New Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office had filed a request to detain Lin — who was Kao’s boyfriend at the time of the incident — with the court approving the request early yesterday. The prosecutors’ office said that it is likely to charge Lin with seven offenses: assault causing bodily harm, violating
Italian Representative to Taiwan Davide Giglio has praised the nation as a “silent giant” of the global supply chain, saying he is looking forward to establishing closer cooperation with Taiwan’s world-leading semiconductor sector. “Taiwan’s role in global production chains has largely gone unnoticed until recently. This may have to do with the fact that Taiwanese companies do not always enjoy strong brand power,” Giglio said in an interview with the Central News Agency. However, a global chip shortage has brought to light Taiwan’s strength in such a strategically important sector, he said. Italy, a leader in the automotive sector, was quick to realize
RSS