Lithuania’s speaker is to travel to Taiwan this month, becoming the nation’s highest-level official to visit Taipei — and potentially escalating simmering tensions between the EU member state and China.
Lithuanian Seimas Speaker Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen is to accompany a business delegation from the Baltic nation to bolster cooperation in technology, the speaker’s office said in a statement on Tuesday.
Cmilyte-Nielsen is to attend Fintech Taipei and business meetings, and is to discuss economic cooperation with Taiwanese officials.
Photo: screen grab from Viktorija Cmilyte-Nielsen’s X account
The visit, part of a tour of Taiwan and Japan from Saturday next week through Oct. 29, was announced two years after Taipei opened the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania.
Lithuania approved the use of the word “Taiwanese” in the office’s name, while most nations use “Taipei” for fear of provoking Beijing.
China responded by downgrading diplomatic relations over the office’s use of the word.
“Taiwan provides more opportunities for cooperation in the development of the Lithuanian high-tech sector,” Cmilyte-Nielsen said in a statement. “The development of economic cooperation is key objective of this mission.”
Additional reporting by staff writer
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