Lithuanian Member of Parliament Dovilė Šakalienė says that Taiwan’s representative office represents Taiwan, not just Taipei. Lithuania just welcomed a Taiwanese Representative Office to its capital last month. It is the first de facto embassy that doesn’t use “Taipei” which has caused a major backlash from Beijing. She made the remarks in an interview with Radio Taiwan International during her visit last week.
Ties between Lithuania and Taiwan have been growing strong. Taiwan saw 10 Baltic lawmakers visit Taiwan last week. Šakalienė is a well-known human rights defender and is one of ten officials sanctioned by Beijing for speaking out against China’s human rights abuses.
In the interview, she said Lithuania feels for Taiwan as it has struggled with authoritarian regimes and doesn’t want to see other countries suffer. She said that one of five families in Lithuania suffered greatly when it was occupied by the USSR, including her family. Lithuania was the first country to declare independence from the USSR in 1991.
She also said that Lithuania is a small country of less than three million, but it is a friend helping to build a bigger coalition of democracies to support Taiwan.She said she hopes Lithuania can be for Taiwan what Iceland was for Lithuania. Iceland, though a small country, was the first country to recognize Lithuania’s independence. Its support helped inspire other countries to support Lithuania as well. She said that she believes that a greater alliance with like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific is also very important.
As for the economic pressure Lithuania is facing due to its relations with Taiwan, Šakalienė said that “decoupling from China is healthy, kind of like quitting smoking”. She said that it was unhealthy to depend on an authoritarian regime that could change its policies or use coercion due to political issues.
China has reportedly removed Lithuania from its customs registry with shipments not being cleared through customs and import applications being rejected. Lithuania's foreign minister is asking the EU to intervene on its behalf