A Lithuanian group of Taiwan-friendly lawmakers is visiting the nation for six days, and would meet with Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) and other senior officials to boost bilateral relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday.
The eight-member Seimas delegation is led by Lithuania-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group chairperson Ruslanas Baranovas, and includes Lithuanian Parliament’s Committee on National Security and Defense chairperson Giedrimas Jeglinskas, and Committee on Foreign Affairs vice chairman Matas Maldeikis, the ministry said.
Ties between Taiwan and Lithuania have warmed since 2021, when both sides opened offices in the other’s capital cities.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The opening of Taiwan’s office in Vilnius had triggered an unusually harsh reaction from China.
Beijing strongly objected to Lithuania’s decision to allow the word “Taiwanese” in the name of Taiwan’s representative office in Lithuania, because it implies that Taiwan is a sovereign country.
China, which sees Taiwan as part of its territory, had responded by recalling its ambassador to Vilnius, expelling Lithuania’s ambassador to Beijing, suspending direct freight rail service to Lithuania and severely restricting Lithuanian exports’ access to the Chinese market.
Although Lithuania tried to restore diplomatic links with China after a new government assumed power in December last year, it has remained insistent on not changing the name of Taiwan’s representative office in Vilnius.
A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck off the coast of Yilan County at 8:39pm tonight, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, with no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The epicenter was 38.7km east-northeast of Yilan County Hall at a focal depth of 98.3km, the CWA’s Seismological Center said. The quake’s maximum intensity, which gauges the actual physical effect of a seismic event, was a level 4 on Taiwan’s 7-tier intensity scale, the center said. That intensity level was recorded in Yilan County’s Nanao Township (南澳), Hsinchu County’s Guansi Township (關西), Nantou County’s Hehuanshan (合歡山) and Hualien County’s Yanliao (鹽寮). An intensity of 3 was
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