The head of a Taiwan friendship group in the Lithuanian parliament plans to organize a “strong delegation” made up of ruling and opposition lawmakers to visit Taiwan to learn how the nations can cooperate and create “win-win” scenarios for each other, he said.
“I want to have a strong delegation, especially for the first visit, and we are working to have a delegation with people who have different views, even from the opposition, for the people to see in reality how Lithuania and Taiwan can cooperate and create a win-win situation for both sides,” Lithuanian Member of Parliament Matas Maldeikis said in an interview with the Central News Agency.
Maldeikis, who is chairman of the Parliamentary Group for Relations with Taiwan, was discussing a planned visit for the first week of December that would include six lawmakers from the Baltic state.
Photo courtesy of Matas Maldeikis via CNA
The visit follows an invitation from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉).
Chiu, who heads the Lithuanian friendship group in the Legislative Yuan, on Aug. 23 said that he had invited several Lithuanian lawmakers to visit Taiwan when the COVID-19 pandemic eases.
Maldeikis said the delegation would participate in a conference on democracy at the Legislative Yuan.
The trip comes as Lithuania faces increasing pressure from Beijing after its decision to open reciprocal representative offices with Taiwan and allowing Taipei’s office in Vilnius to be named the “Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania.”
The name differs from the “Taipei Economic and Cultural Office” or “Taipei Representative Office” used in countries with which Taiwan does not have diplomatic relations, likely as the host nations hope to avoid any semblance of treating Taiwan as a country to maintain relations with China.
In response, Beijing has sought to impose a political cost on Lithuania for its decision.
In addition to recalling its ambassador from Vilnius and expelling the Lithuanian ambassador from Beijing, China has introduced retaliatory sanctions, including the suspension of direct freight train services to Lithuania.
Maldeikis, 41, said he understands why Lithuania’s business community is angry about the government’s policy on China.
After the country lost access to the Russian market, its government encouraged businesses to look toward China instead, Maldeikis said.
“And now we have this position about democracy and being with Taiwan. Of course we read the anger, but it’s not about Taiwan as it is, they are saying: ‘Look, the government changes and the foreign policy changes, and we are losing our businesses.’ We understand and are working on that,” he said.
The China market for exports is also not that big for Lithuania, accounting for about 1 percent of total experts, he added.
More importantly, countries around the world have begun to realize that political factors are involved once they do business with China, Maldeikis said.
“That means you can’t be a sovereign country. Australia learned that the hard way, we are starting to learn that. We understand after so many years with Russia if you are losing sovereignty for a market, you will lose both,” he said.
Asked why he decided to head the Taiwan friendship group, Maldeikis said his goal is simple: It is not only about helping Taiwan, but more about safeguarding his country’s interests and security.
“It is better to have 23 million very good friends than one-and-a-half billion not good friends, and a market which you can get in and you are nothing to them,” he said.
“They don’t care about you and if anything, they will sell you for nothing. So I’m looking out for my country’s interests, and if that helps Taiwan, that’s very good,” he added.
His ultimate goal is for Lithuania to have less investment in and from China, and he wants Lithuania and Taiwanese businesses working closely so that one day the scale of bilateral cooperation would be bigger than that of China, he said.
“That could be the biggest step we can make, a very practical, and very good example for the whole of Europe. Because we are like an incubator to show to different European countries what can be done, if you would like to cooperate with Taiwan as closely as possible. We can be an example for the whole of Europe,” he said.
NATIONAL SECURITY: Authorities are working to confirm the identities of the military personnel involved and investigating possible illegal conduct and regulatory violations Authorities are probing possible national security implications after Kinmen police and immigration officers on Sunday found a Chinese woman allegedly posing as a tourist while engaging in prostitution involving more than 10 military personnel. The woman, surnamed Chen (陳), has since been deported, authorities said, adding that investigators are still working to confirm the identities of those implicated, as the records only listed code names and aliases. The case stemmed from a report received by the Kinmen District Prosecutors’ Office on Friday last week from the Jinhu Precinct of the Kinmen County Police Bureau. On Sunday, police, along with the National Immigration
GLOBALGIVING: ‘ Caving to external pressure is not acceptable for an organization that has cultivated justice reform and human rights for 30 years,’ one NGO said A slew of non-government organizations (NGOs) have withdrawn from the GlobalGiving fundraising platform after it announced it would use “Chinese Taipei” instead of “Taiwan” from next month. The Taiwan Good Rice Association wrote on Facebook on Friday that it was informed on April 28 via a teleconference call of the change, which was made because the platform wanted to operate in China. Taiwan Good Rice is to terminate all cooperative relationships with GlobalGiving in response to the platform’s “unilateral and non-negotiable” decision to remove references to Taiwan, the NGO said. “Taiwan is in the official name of Taiwan Good Rice Association and the
HEAVY WEATHER: Typhoon Jangmi is due to crash straight into the Ryukyus as airlines look to shift flights to larger aircraft or cancel flights to Okinawa entirely Taiwan’s international air carriers announced flight adjustments over the weekend as Typhoon Jangmi is forecast to hit the Ryukyu Islands today and tomorrow. The Central Weather Administration (CWA) upgraded Jangmi from a tropical storm to a typhoon at 8am yesterday, with the eye located 580km south of Naha city. It was moving north at 19kph. Today, China Airlines’ CI-120, CI-121, CI-122 and CI-123 flights between Taoyuan and Naha, Okinawa, have been canceled as well as CI-132 and CI-133 between Kaohsiung and Naha. EVA Air’s BR-112, BR-113, BR-186 and BR-185 flights between Taoyuan and Naha are also canceled. Low-cost carrier Tigerair Taiwan canceled IT-230,
MULTIPRONGED APPROACH: China has sought to pressure Palau across a number of fronts, but the island nation has staunchly resisted overtures to ditch Taiwan Palau has been firm in backing Taiwan despite Chinese pressure that uses tourism economics, cyberattacks and criminal infiltration as tools to threaten the Pacific ally into renouncing its recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state. The Presidential Office yesterday announced that Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) would visit Palau from Saturday to Wednesday next week at the invitation of Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. Whipps in April said in an interview that China had outspokenly asked Palau to “denounce Taiwan.” “And we have said: ‘We have no enemies, but nobody tells us who our friends are,’” he said. Whipps has told reporters multiple times
RSS