This year, for example, the 2021 Taipei International Food Show featured Lithuanian products. But there was also a political dimension to Lithuania’s participation as it also demonstrated the solidarity between Lithuania and Taiwan, and their strong commitment to upholding democracy against pressures from authoritarianism. The annual international food show featured the first-ever Lithuanian pavilion, one of…
Foreign Affairs
Make Africa an Equal Partner of EU
During a visit to the European Parliament by the President of Ghana Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the Co-Chairmen of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, Polish Prof Ryszard Legutko and Italian Raffaele Fitto, asked the EU to help put African nations on equal footing with those of Europe. In a bilateral meeting after Akufo-Addo’s plenary…
Beijing’s Taiwan Territorial Claims Lack Justification
There is no rational justification for a demand for the “reunification” of Taiwan with the PRC writes Aaron Rhodes. Xi Jinping and other Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leaders are ramping up rhetoric about the necessity of “unifying” China by bringing Taiwan under their control as a “sacrosanct mission of the entire Chinese people.” Since 1949,…
From the Baltic to the Straits of Formosa
In order to strengthen economic and cultural ties between Taiwan and Lithuania, TAITRA invited the Lithuanian Rural Business and Market Development Agency to set up a Lithuania pavilion at the 2021 Taipei International Food Show. The show ran from December 22 to 25, with the first three days open to commercial enterprises and the last…
Renewing the Transatlantic Partnership
With China and Russia on the offensive, a renewed and reliable transatlantic partnership is the key to maintaining international and legal order and peace. The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) supports the idea of an Alliance of Democracies, ensuring that civil society has significant say in the joint defence of universal values and rights….
Author seeks to shed fresh light on President’s controversial son
Earlier this month, President Biden organised a much-publicised conference on “democracy”. It was an event he’d promised on the presidential campaign trail. The aims were highly laudable, not least as the meeting with the heads of state of Australia, India and Japan was to ensure that “the way in which technology is designed, developed, governed and…
Human Rights Protection Demanded for Russian NGO Memorial
Parliament said it “condemns the repeated persecution and the recent politically motivated” attempts by Russian authorities to shut down the two legal entities of the human rights organisation Memorial – International Memorial and the Memorial Human Rights Centre. MEPs also called for all charges against Memorial to be dropped immediately and for guarantees that the…
NATO Stresses Support for Ukraine
The North Atlantic Council has issued a toughly worded statement on the current tense situation in Ukraine.It reads,”We are gravely concerned by the substantial, unprovoked, and unjustified Russian military build-up on the borders of Ukraine in recent months, and reject the false Russian claims of Ukrainian and NATO provocations. We call on Russia to immediately…
EU Korea Sharing Data Protection
Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders and Chairperson of the Personal Information Protection Commission Yoon Jong In said they both welcome the adoption of the European Commission’s adequacy decision for the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the Republic of Korea under the General Data Protection Regulation. After the conclusion of the adequacy talks in…
Parliament Condemns Russia’s Military Build-up
Against the backdrop of increasing Russian military threats against Ukraine, MEPs say any aggression by Moscow must come at a high economic and political price. In a resolution adopted on Thursday by 548 votes in favour, 69 against and 54 abstentions, Parliament condemns the current large Russian military build-up on the Ukrainian border. MEPs demand…