Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa says his country is working with Taiwan to set up representative offices in each other’s capitals. Jansa was speaking in an interview with an Indian public television on Monday. Jansa said it will not be on the level of embassies, but on the same level as what many EU member countries already have with Taiwan, namely economic and trade offices.
He did not mention whether it would follow the model of Lithuania in the name of its office. Lithuania welcomed a Taiwanese Representative Office which has caused backlash from Beijing. Jansa had expressed support for relations between Taiwan and Lithuania when Slovenia was the chair country for the EU last year.
In the interview, Jansa said that Slovenia and Taiwan have good relations. He said that he exchanged disease prevention experiences with Taiwan’s health minister Chen Shih-chung last year. Jansa has also expressed support for Taiwan’s participation in the WHO.
Jansa said if Slovenia and Taiwan had stronger ties in the past, they would have established trade representative offices earlier because it is mutually beneficial to do so. Jansa says Beijing has no reason to prevent other countries from building trade ties with Taiwan.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou said Tuesday that Jansa has been a friend of Taiwan for many years and has visited Taiwan on several occasions.