Joseph Wu says no way to Lithuanian president’s suggestion for name change

Joseph Wu says no way to Lithuanian president’s suggestion for name change

2024-05-09

The Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania made history by being the first office in Europe to have the name Taiwan in it. But recently Lithuania’s president suggested that the Taiwanese office undergo a name change in order to appease China. Taiwan foreign minister Joseph Wu fired back, saying that Taiwan will stand firm on the office’s name and that Taiwanese officials are closely monitoring China’s diplomatic gamesmanship.

In November 2021, Taiwan opened its de facto embassy in Lithuania, as it’s the first office in Europe to have Taiwan in its name. But now Gitanas Nauseda, the Baltic country’s president, has raised the issue of potentially changing the representative office’s name in order to bring stability to his nation’s relations with China. So, is the de facto embassy about to undergo a name change?

Joseph Wu
Foreign minister
This issue involves a bilateral agreement. So, if he says they’re really going to sign a new agreement between us, then I don’t think we in Taiwan can accept this. There’s something else I want to say about this; they’re not a presidential system, they’re a country with a parliamentary system. In October they’ll be having parliamentary elections. They won’t form a new government until the results of the parliamentary elections are in. Our relations with Lithuania won’t encounter any problems, and our representative office there won’t be undergoing a change.

Wu was resolute that the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania won’t have its name changed. But with Lai Ching-te winning the election earlier this year, China is clearly on the offensive; Nauru cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and many worry that China could be planning another diplomatic attack that may be launched before the May 20 inauguration.

Joseph Wu
Foreign minister
We’ve recently being evaluating our relations with our diplomatic allies. I can honestly share with everybody that we aren’t experiencing any diplomatic problems. But I am worried to see China behaving in these ways.

In the short-term, Wu doesn’t foresee any diplomatic issues, but he still admitted that he has some concerns.

Joseph Wu
Foreign minister
Let me give an example: let’s say there’s a nation that’s been dealing with unrest for a long period of time. Currently, our diplomatic ties absolutely don’t have any problems, because they know that we’re still helping them, and they’re extremely grateful for that. But if things in their country keep going the same way as before, I do worry a bit. There is also another diplomatic ally of ours that China is using neighboring nations to infiltrate the left wing extremists and thereby bring about internal turmoil. For this I must be honest that this creates concerns that are long-term in nature.

One of the countries Wu seems to be referring to is Haiti, which has been dealing with instability for a long time because of powerful gangs and political unrest. As for the other, Tuvalu and Guatemala were both suggested as possibilities. Taiwan is in a perpetual diplomatic dilemma, and so any small issue could turn into a big problem.

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