A delegation led by the chairman of the Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with Taiwan yesterday arrived in Taipei to participate in a conference on democracy later this week.
The group, led by Matas Maldeikis, a Lithuanian lawmaker and an outspoken critic of China, touched down at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 6:18am yesterday.
Maldeikis said at the airport that he expected the trip to enhance understanding between Taiwan and Lithuania after cooperation between the two sides took a big step forward this past year.
Photo: CNA
“This trip will be another step in understanding each other because we are dealing with the same challenges,” he said.
Another member of the delegation, Lithuanian lawmaker Dovile Sakaliene, said she expected the Taiwan trip to be “inspiring,” as Lithuania knows how it feels to be next to the neighbor of “a large authoritarian regime.”
The Baltic state is near Russia, while Taiwan is just across the Strait from China.
She also said she saw it as a “badge of honor” to be on China’s travel ban list, as she is also critical of China’s communist regime.
Members of the delegation all joked that they would be joining the list soon, she said.
Sakaliene said that Taiwan is an important friend to Lithuania and Vilnius would “continue this friendship.”
The Lithuanian delegation would be joining other parliamentarians from Belize, Estonia, Latvia and Mexico at this year’s Open Parliament Forum on Wednesday and Thursday, where the promotion of democracy and open parliaments would be discussed, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
While in Taiwan, they are to meet President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) and attend a dinner hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮).
You yesterday welcomed the delegation upon their arrival, saying that Taiwan opens its arms to all partners who love freedom and democracy.
The visit comes as Taiwan bolsters exchanges with the EU.
Earlier this month, Taiwan inaugurated a representative office in Vilnius as part of a reciprocal deal reached with Lithuania in August. Lithuania is to open a representative office in Taipei early next year.
ENDEAVOR MANTA: The ship is programmed to automatically return to its designated home port and would self-destruct if seized by another party The Endeavor Manta, Taiwan’s first military-specification uncrewed surface vehicle (USV) tailor-made to operate in the Taiwan Strait in a bid to bolster the nation’s asymmetric combat capabilities made its first appearance at Kaohsiung’s Singda Harbor yesterday. Taking inspiration from Ukraine’s navy, which is using USVs to force Russia’s Black Sea fleet to take shelter within its own ports, CSBC Taiwan (台灣國際造船) established a research and development unit on USVs last year, CSBC chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正弘) said. With the exception of the satellite guidance system and the outboard motors — which were purchased from foreign companies that were not affiliated with Chinese-funded
PERMIT REVOKED: The influencer at a news conference said the National Immigration Agency was infringing on human rights and persecuting Chinese spouses Chinese influencer “Yaya in Taiwan” (亞亞在台灣) yesterday evening voluntarily left Taiwan, despite saying yesterday morning that she had “no intention” of leaving after her residence permit was revoked over her comments on Taiwan being “unified” with China by military force. The Ministry of the Interior yesterday had said that it could forcibly deport the influencer at midnight, but was considering taking a more flexible approach and beginning procedures this morning. The influencer, whose given name is Liu Zhenya (劉振亞), departed on a 8:45pm flight from Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) to Fuzhou, China. Liu held a news conference at the airport at 7pm,
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
SECURITY RISK: If there is a conflict between China and Taiwan, ‘there would likely be significant consequences to global economic and security interests,’ it said China remains the top military and cyber threat to the US and continues to make progress on capabilities to seize Taiwan, a report by US intelligence agencies said on Tuesday. The report provides an overview of the “collective insights” of top US intelligence agencies about the security threats to the US posed by foreign nations and criminal organizations. In its Annual Threat Assessment, the agencies divided threats facing the US into two broad categories, “nonstate transnational criminals and terrorists” and “major state actors,” with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea named. Of those countries, “China presents the most comprehensive and robust military threat
RSS