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.
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