The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Gabrielius Landsbergis for supporting the naming of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius.
Debates about the office’s name flared up after Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda last week called the decision to allow the office to bear the name “Taiwan” — instead of Taipei, as is common for the nation’s missions in Europe — a “mistake.”
Beijing has said that becoming aware of the mistake is a correct step, but that rectifying the mistake would be more important.
Photo: CNA
“Many have over the past few days been asking when, how and by whom [the name] was adopted, and who agreed with the decision,” Landsbergis wrote in Lithuanian on Facebook on Tuesday. “Surprisingly, there were few of those questions when we announced this decision back in July.”
“After all, absolutely nothing special happened in Lithuania, only people from the island of Taiwan wanted to call themselves Taiwanese and that is completely normal. It does not contravene our international obligations, it does not breach treaties,” he added.
“Allowing yourself to be called the way your people call themselves is not a mistake,” he wrote.
Landsbergis on Tuesday met with Franziska Brantner, parliamentary state secretary in Germany’s Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action.
They discussed China’s economic pressure on Lithuania and the EU’s possible measures in response, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.
“I will also discuss this matter with my counterparts, the foreign ministers of the European Union, at the upcoming informal meeting in France on Friday,” the statement quoted Landsbergis as saying.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday thanked Landsbergis for his support.
Taiwan is a name that Taiwanese feel proud of and a cornerstone for them to navigate the world, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said in a statement.
Landsbergis’ correct description of the “status quo” corresponds with international routines and demonstrates his firm support for Taiwan in spite of coercion by a superpower, Ou said.
His remarks also epitomize the general support for Taiwan by members of the global democratic alliance, she said, adding that the foreign ministry would continue to bolster the nation’s mutually beneficial and practical partnership with Lithuania.
In addition to a US$200 million investment fund for industries in central and eastern Europe, the National Development Council would offer another US$1 billion in credit loans for businesses in Taiwan and Lithuania, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday.
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