Ensuring Taiwan’s security ensures the security of the global common good, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫?) said yesterday after meeting three Baltic foreign affairs committee heads at the Legislative Yuan.
The Baltic delegation made up of Marko Mihkelson, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Estonian Parliament, Zygimantas Pavilionis, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Seimas, and Rihards Kols, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Latvian Saeima, arrived on Sunday for six days.
Mihkelson said the parliaments of the Baltic states organized the first delegation to Taipei by the heads of their foreign affairs committees with the aim of achieving a better understanding of Taiwan.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
As the world enters into a period of instability, democracies must stand together to deal with their greatest threat since World War II, he said.
You said that Taiwan is striving to consolidate democracy as a member of the global community of democracies, even in the face of military threats from China.
Taiwan is only a stepping stone for the Chinese Communist Party’s larger ambition of achieving global hegemony by facilitating the rise of the East and the decline of the West, he said.
Beijing’s vision would come at the expense of Europe and the US should it be fulfilled, You said.
Taiwan has chosen to be on the side of the alliance of democratic countries, and is serving as a bulwark of that alliance’s defensive line, he said, adding that protecting the nation protects the security of Europe and the US.
The Baltic states are likewise among Europe’s foremost defenses against Russian hegemony, he said.
You drew parallels between Taiwan’s road to democracy and the democratization of the Baltic states, saying that they all had to rise above authoritarianism and were ruled by a foreign regime.
The Baltic Way rally for peace involving about 2 million people opposed to Soviet occupation inspired Taiwan’s 228 Hand-in-Hand Rally in 2004, which rejected China’s expansionism, he said.
Taiwan stands together with the Baltic states in support of Ukraine, while the Baltic states have steadfastly stood with Taiwan with regard to its participation in international organizations, he said.
As the Baltic march proved the power of solidarity over tyranny to every soul yearning for freedom, so, too, would the unity between Taiwan and the Baltic states prevail over the tide of authoritarianism in the 21st century, he said.
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