Lithuania First President visits Taiwan's newly-opened Representative Office in Vilnius
Nov 19, 2021
Vilnius [Lithuania], November 19 : First President of Lithuania Vytautas Landsbergis on Thursday visited the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius.
This came as Taiwan officially opened its new representative office in the Baltic state, which has irked Beijing.
The Office is opened with Eric Huang, currently, Taiwan's chief of Mission in Latvia, appointed as the nation's first representative to Lithuania, reported Focus Taiwan citing a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) press release.
The office will facilitate bilateral cooperation in various fields, including semiconductors, lasers and fintech, the release said, adding, the opening of the office will "charter a new and promising course for bilateral relations between Taiwan and Lithuania."
Earlier, China had expressed anger against Lithuania over the latter's decision to allow the use of "Taiwanese" in Taipei's representative office.
Lithuania is facing increased pressure from China following its decision to open reciprocal representative offices with Taiwan.
The new office will take over, with immediate effect, the responsibility of promoting relations between Taiwan and the Baltic state, as well as serving and protecting Taiwanese citizens in the country, said Focus Taiwan citing the release.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Lithuanian Parliament's (Seimas) Committee on Foreign Affairs Zygimantas Pavilionis and Chairman of the Seimas' Taiwan Friendship Group Matas Maldeikis also paid a visit to the office, Taiwan News reported.
This came as Beijing claims sovereignty over Taiwan and has increased military incursions in the democratic country.
Taiwan is a democracy of almost 24 million people located off the southeastern coast of mainland China.
Despite being governed separately for more than seven decades, China has threatened that "Taiwan's independence" means war.
