The United States and Lithuania will seek to boost the Baltic state’s economic partnership with Taiwan, both countries said on Monday as they expressed support for Taipei’s international participation.
In a joint statement released after they met in Washington, D.C., U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Lithuanian counterpart Gabrielius Landsbergis said they looked forward to forging closer ties with Taiwan.
Both Blinken and Landsbergis “welcomed the development of joint projects between Lithuania and Taiwan in semiconductors, lasers and other areas,” the joint statement read.
“The leaders also seek to strengthen Lithuania’s robust economic partnership with Taiwan, support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international fora, and deepen people-to-people ties with Taiwan,” it added.
Taiwan’s National Sun Yat-sen University established the Taiwan and Lithuania Center for Semiconductors and Materials Science in the Baltic state in February 2022 to develop laser and crystal growth technologies. In September, the Taiwanese university announced it would launch a joint project with Lithuania to develop a disk laser system.
In June, Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs said it would help Lithuania to build its semiconductor manufacturing capacity and draw on the Baltic country’s strengths in the field of laser technologies after both sides held discussions on cooperation.
In the joint statement, the top diplomats of the U.S. and Lithuania reiterated their “strong” concerns about China’s recent and continued economic coercion of partner economies and provocative actions to undermine the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
“Secretary Blinken expressed appreciation for Lithuania’s resolve in withstanding the PRC’s unjustified political and economic coercion. Foreign Minister Landsbergis expressed appreciation for the many actions the United States has taken to support Lithuania in withstanding PRC coercion and turning it into an economic opportunity,” the statement indicated.
It was the third time that Blinken has met with Landsbergis over the past two years in the wake of China’s economic threats to Lithuania since the Baltic state and Taiwan agreed to set up a representative office in each other’s country in 2021.
The Lithuanian representative office in Taiwan officially began operations on Nov. 7, 2022 with the office having originally been expected to open in Taipei in September 2022.
Taiwan opened its office in Vilnius on Nov. 18, 2021.
As Lithuania’s ties with Taiwan have improved, however, the Baltic state has come under heavy political and economic pressure from Beijing over the name of Taiwan’s office there — the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania — which differs from Taiwan’s offices in most countries which have “Taipei” in their name.
According to the statement, the two top diplomats further reiterated the importance of close cooperation to maintain the rules-based international order, such as recognition of the importance of the U.S. joining as a third party in the World Trade Organization case brought against China for discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania.
Blinken and Landsbergis also urged Moscow to immediately stop its invasion of Ukraine, with the two leaders committed to continuing to impose strong economic costs on Russia through sanctions and pursuing accountability for those responsible for Russia’s invasion, the statement showed.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel