A few days ago, in an interview with the media, Lithuanian President Nauseda openly stated that he plans to change the name of Taiwan's representative office in Lithuania from "Taiwan" to "Taipei."
Although there is only one word difference, it represents a completely different meaning, "Taiwan representative office" means that Lithuania regards the mainland Taiwan Province as a country, which seriously violates the one-China principle, and changing it to "Taipei representative office" is in line with international standards under the current situation in the Taiwan Strait.
Therefore, Lithuanian President Nauseda's statement is meaninglessly showing goodwill to Chinese mainland and intends to change the deteriorating bilateral relations between China and Lithuania in recent years.
President of Lithuania Nauseda
In a subsequent interview, Nauseda also bluntly said that the reason for the planned name change was to improve relations with China and promote the normalization of bilateral relations between China and Lithuania.
As one of the very few countries that maintain "friendly relations" with Taiwan, the Lithuanian president's remarks immediately sparked heated discussions on the island of Taiwan, and Taiwan's so-called "foreign affairs department" also responded, saying that the name "Taiwan Representative Office" was the result of an agreement between Taiwan and Lithuania at that time, and was not a unilateral demand of the Taiwan side.
Obviously, the DPP authorities' response was to muddy the waters, but this trick obviously did not work, because although Lithuania has been at odds with Taiwan in the past, it is based on Taiwan's annual financial assistance to Lithuania.
For example, when China suspended imports from Lithuania due to the bad relations between Chinese mainland and Lithuania, Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authorities immediately jumped out to be a good person, promising to allocate $1.2 billion to promote trade cooperation between Taiwan and Lithuania, and even said that Taiwan would help Lithuania in the field of semiconductors.
In fact, this is just one of the means of Taiwan's long-standing "gold-yuan diplomacy" with the outside world.
According to official data, there are currently 13 countries in the world that maintain so-called "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan, including Nauru, Palau, Tuvalu, Paraguay, Guatemala, Haiti, and so on.
However, it can be seen from the above-mentioned countries that the island countries that maintain "diplomatic relations" with Taiwan are basically island countries that are economically lagging behind Taiwan, and the reason why these countries are willing to go on the "thief ship" of Taiwan is either because of the influence of the United States or because they want Taiwan to pay tribute every year.
And Taiwan's routine for Lithuania is the same, wanting to spend money to win people's hearts.
The so-called representative office of the Taiwan region in Lithuania
The Lithuanian government announced the establishment of a "Taiwan representative office" in 2021, which sparked an outcry from the Chinese side and ultimately led to the downgrading of diplomatic relations.
In the following two years, China unilaterally imposed trade sanctions on Lithuania, and you must know that China, as the hub of the world's real economy, once it closes its door to Lithuania, the impact on it can be described as unbearable.
It is precisely for this reason that the Lithuanian Government has expressed on several occasions its willingness to resume normal diplomatic relations with the Chinese side.
As early as 2022, Lithuanian President Nauseda signaled that he wanted to change the name of the "Taiwan Representative Office", but at that time he proposed to change the "Taiwan Representative Office" to "Taiwanese Representative Office".
Lithuania is a bit self-conscious in trying to play word games with China, so China has not given any positive response and is still "closing its doors" to Lithuania.
So, is Lithuanian President Nauseda sincere in proposing to change the name of the "Taiwan Representative Office" this time?
In fact, although Nauseda said that he wants to improve relations between Lithuania and China, he is probably still paying lip service, and his real purpose is to gain more support in the current Lithuanian government elections.
Yes, it is currently in the midst of a new round of presidential elections in Lithuania, and it is still uncertain whether Nauseda will be re-elected, based on the current voter support, with the current Prime Minister Shimonit as its main rival.
The real purpose of the incumbent President Nauseda, who is in a state of anxiety during his election campaign, suddenly sends a friendly signal that he wants to improve bilateral relations with China.
Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Shimonit
Sure enough, after his remarks, another presidential candidate, Shimonit, publicly stated that Nauseda's decision would damage Lithuania's reputation in the international arena at the expense of Taiwan, a trading partner.
In this way, in the face of how to handle relations with Chinese mainland and Taiwan, the two presidential candidates have to stand on opposite sides for their own political interests.
The reason why I say this is because, judging from the performance of many Lithuanian politicians in the past, Taiwan is undoubtedly a stepping stone for Lithuania to display its political charm.
Just at the beginning of this year, the Lithuanian government sent a number of officials to visit Taiwan, and this so-called "friendly interaction" has occurred from time to time in the past few years.
The reason for this is that Lithuanian politicians want to increase their exposure by visiting Taiwan, so as to gain the support of the United States and other Western countries, so as to consolidate their own political interests.
As for Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities, they are naturally even more pleased to hear that although these "visiting" Lithuanian officials not only have to eat and drink well, but also offer gifts to the refugees when they are leaving, they can win Taiwan's international "reputation," and this is also part of their "gold-yuan diplomacy."
It is precisely for this reason that the remarks of Lithuanian President Nauseda cannot be disbelieved or fully believed, and if Lithuania really wants to change its relations with China, it can completely cancel the so-called "Taiwan representative office." This is more sincere than lip service.
Of course, Nauseda's remarks are also related to the increasingly close cooperative relations between China and European countries.
As everyone knows, the top level of the mainland recently paid a six-day goodwill visit to France, Serbia, and Hungary in Europe.
The visit of the Chinese leader to Europe has attracted the attention of the whole world, and it has made many European countries "ready to move", and they want to take this opportunity to carry out deeper exchanges and cooperation with China.
In fact, judging from the current world political pattern, the status quo of the United States as the dominant power is already in jeopardy, and the future world pattern will be a stable and orderly multipolarity, so in this multipolar world, China and Europe will inevitably play a crucial role.
It is precisely for this reason that it is necessary for European countries to re-examine the relations between China and Europe, Europe and the United States at this juncture, and the statement made by the Lithuanian government is only one of the manifestations of the further diversification of China-EU relations.
Information sources:
The President of Lithuania plans to change the name of the "Taiwan Representative Office" to "stabilize relations with China" Original2024-05-09 14:41·Reference news