The Taiwanese minister is discussing relations in Vilnius, he met with the head of the Seimas without prior announcement

After arriving in Vilnius, Joseph Wu continues his visit to the Baltic countries, with which he hopes to strengthen relations.

The leaders of the country and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gabrielius Landsbergis, said on the eve of the visit that they would not meet with the Taiwanese minister because they adhere to the “one China” principle and avoid allusions to the recognition of Taiwan, but the Speaker of the Seimas received Joseph Wu in her office for a dozen minutes.

“We are two good friends, we met to talk about various issues of bilateral relations. It was great,” Wu told reporters.

V. Čmilytė-Nielsen, who recently visited Taiwan herself, said in a comment transmitted to BNS that she thanked the minister for the warm reception in Taipei.

“We discussed how economic cooperation and support for Ukraine could be activated,” said the Speaker of the Seimas.

Joseph Wu said he did not emphasize that official meetings with representatives of the executive branch do not take place.

“Lithuania is a very good friend of Taiwan and we want to talk to all the people who are interested in working together with us to make bilateral relations between Lithuania and Taiwan even better,” said the Taiwanese minister.

He also met with the parliamentary group for relations with Taiwan in Vilnius, and later he will participate in the democracy forum.

“Frontline Democracies”

Speaking to reporters, Joseph Wu called his visit historic, emphasizing similarities and calling the Baltic countries and Taiwan “front-line democracies” facing the “expansion of authoritarianism.”

“In this part of the world, there is Russia, which started a war against Ukraine and talks about the Baltic countries as part of Russia. (…) In the Indo-Pacific region, China is expanding and saying that Taiwan is part of China. This is against the will of the Taiwanese people,” the minister said.

China considers democratically-ruled Taiwan its own territory and has vowed to take it back, by force if necessary.

The head of Taiwan’s diplomacy said that he felt the support of Lithuania and other Baltic countries.

“We are united by the same values ​​- freedom, democracy, protection of human rights and the rule of law,” said the politician.

“This is an unlimited space for us to collaborate with each other and that was my goal in coming to this part of the world,” he added.

On Thursday evening, Joseph Wu will take part in the closed Future of Democracy Forum organized by Vilnius University’s Department of International Relations and Political Sciences (VU TSPMI) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).

This is the first time that the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan is visiting the Baltic States.

It is hoped that Lithuania will be Taiwan’s gateway to the EU

In relations with Taiwan, Lithuania is the most advanced of all the Baltic countries – in 2021, Vilnius allowed the Taiwanese to open a Taiwanese representative office in the capital of Lithuania.

This move caused China’s displeasure – Beijing restricted relations with Vilnius and blocked Lithuania’s exports and imports. As a result, the EU approached the World Trade Organization at the beginning of last year.

Lithuania expects high-tech business investments from Taiwan. So far, the most striking example of intensified ties is Teltonika’s cooperation agreement with Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) on semiconductor technology sharing.

Joseph Wu said Lithuanian businesses, including laser developers, could become part of Taiwan’s semiconductor manufacturing and supply chains.

“(Taiwanese chip maker – BNS) TMSC invests in Germany. Of course, this is not just an investment in Germany. We hope that we can bring together many countries, many businesses and create an ecosystem,” said the Taiwanese minister.

“Of course, Lithuania will have advantages in this area,” he added.

Conservative Matas Maldeikis, chairman of the parliamentary relations group with Taiwan, said that Lithuania wants to be in the chip ecosystem because “it is part of our economic growth”.

“We want to be a place through which Taiwan can discover the EU market,” the parliamentarian told reporters after the group’s meeting with Joseph Wu.

Žygiamtnas Pavilionis, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Seimas, who participated in the meeting, said that they discussed support for Kyiv, which is resisting the Russian invasion: “We asked for their help regarding further support in Ukraine.”

Tallinn has announced it will allow Taiwan to open a non-diplomatic Taipei mission in the country to boost economic and cultural ties with the self-ruled island, but vows to maintain the “one China” principle in political relations.

Joseph Wu said that negotiations on the representative office will take time, but he hopes to open it eventually, and the relationship, he said, will be beneficial to both sides.

When asked if he would seek to mention Taiwan in the name of the representative office, the minister replied: “This is an issue that needs to be negotiated, and now the negotiations have only just begun. I can’t go into details.”