Published Date: 2021-09-17
Lithuania is
pursuing stronger ties with Taiwan despite economic sanctions from China. China
has been blocking trade with Lithuania because it is welcoming a Taiwanese
Representative Office in its capital.
Most countries ask
Taiwan to use the word “Taipei” in the official names of its representative
offices abroad because of pressure from China. But the Taiwanese office in
Vilnius will use the word “Taiwan” in its official name. Beijing has reacted
angrily, recalling its ambassador to Lithuania and demanding that Lithuania
also withdraw its ambassador to Beijing.
In an interview
with RTI, Lithuanian Member of Parliament Dovilė Šakalienė said that Lithuania
stands to lose 0.5% GDP growth due to China’s economic sanctions. China is
Lithuania’s seventh-largest source of imports, with imports worth 1.2 billion
Euros. At the same time, China is Lithuania’s 22nd-largest export market, with
annual exports worth 300 million Euros.
Despite the
economic losses, Šakalienė said, “We can manage this”. She said that Lithuania
will look instead to other markets in democratic countries. She also said that
trade relations with democratic countries are more viable because they are not
affected by politics.
Šakalienė said
that Lithuania is standing up for Taiwan because Lithuania was oppressed during
50 years of Soviet occupation. During that time, the Soviet Union deported 130,000
Lithuanians to Siberia and imprisoned 150,000 out of a population of less than
three million. She said one in five families suffered political persecution,
including her own.
Šakalienė said,
“We sympathize with Taiwan, as every nation has the right to
self-determination. We have to stand up together.”
Lawmakers from
democracies around the world in the Interparliamentary Alliance on China
released a video on Monday that called on countries to “Stand with Lithuania”
and “Stand with Taiwan” as Beijing puts undue pressure on Lithuania due to its
ties with Taiwan.
Taiwan is planning
to send an economic delegation to Lithuania, as well as to Slovakia and the
Czech Republic to strengthen economic ties next month. These three countries
have all donated COVID-19 vaccine doses to Taiwan during a recent outbreak.