A fund has been established to bolster trade with Lithuania and other countries, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) said on Thursday, adding that other measures are being considered to help democratic nations counter economic coercion from China.
Ou made the remarks after the Legislative Yuan’s Legal Affairs Bureau urged the government to create a regular fund for potential situations such as when the state-run Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp bought 20,000 bottles of dark rum from the Baltic country after China canceled its order for political reasons.
Lithuania has faced increasing political and economic pressure from Beijing after it allowed Taipei to open the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius las year.
Photo: AFP
To strengthen economic ties between Taiwan and Lithuania, as well as other democratic partners, the National Development Council has established a central and eastern Europe investment fund, which intends to create a favorable financial environment in which competitive industries can trade in goods such as semiconductors, lasers and biomedical technology, Ou said at a media conference.
Public and private entities in Taiwan are working to support Lithuania by increasing purchases from the country, assisting the development of domestic sales channels, consolidating industries and diversifying the export market, she said.
The government values the mutual benefits of the bilateral relationship with Lithuania, and the ministry welcomes policy recommendations, she said, adding that the ministry is seeking ways to help Lithuania and other democratic countries bolster resilience in the face of punitive Chinese trade measures.
The ministry also said that a planned visit to Taiwan by members of the British Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee, originally scheduled from tomorrow to Thursday, is being postponed due to COVID-19.
A representative of the committee said on Thursday that some of its members tested positive for COVID-19.
The nine-member delegation had planned to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) and Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃).
British Member of Parliament Tom Tugendhat, the committee chairman, said that the visit was a long overdue opportunity for British lawmakers to display solidarity with Taiwan, and that he looked forward to “showing that the UK will stand up for the protection of the island’s democratic values under increased pressure from Beijing.”
The visit would have been the committee’s first to Taiwan since 2006.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS