Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure.
In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year.
Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic.
Photo: Reuters
“Taiwan and our European friends should work closely together on this issue,” Tsai said of the disruptions, calling for the “sharing [of] best practices” to more effectively respond to increasing attacks on their critical infrastructure.
More broadly, Tsai urged democracies to work together on addressing abuses of open information platforms.
Taiwan is “an ideal partner for European countries” as they intensify efforts to combat disinformation and manipulation campaigns by authoritarian regimes seeking to undermine democratic institutions, said Tsai, who left office in May last year after completing two four-year terms.
Taiwan has “gained unique experience and developed innovative tools to counter malign influence” through its repeated exposure to cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and large-scale military exercises, Tsai said.
The former president also praised the ongoing collaboration between Taiwan and Lithuania that began during her tenure, which saw the opening of a Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius and a Lithuanian trade office in Taipei.
However, the warming of ties between the two since 2021 has not been without challenges, including Beijing’s punitive economic measures against Lithuania, while concerns have emerged within Lithuanian society about the potential political and economic costs of deepening relations with Taiwan.
Tsai began the first leg of her European tour in Lithuania on Saturday, where she met former Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite and other parliamentarians from the Baltic nation, and visited a Taiwanese-Lithuanian venture focused on vertical farming.
Tsai also met with a delegation from the US House of Representatives, including US representatives Betty McCollum and Jake Ellzey, her office said.
After visiting Lithuania, Tsai is scheduled to travel to Denmark and the UK.
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