Taiwan foreign minister stops in Brussels for European Parliament visit
Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung answers questions from media during an international press briefing in Taipei, on Jul 19, 2024. (File photo: AFP/I-Hwa Cheng)
TAIPEI: Taiwan's foreign minister Lin Chia-lung met with European Parliament members this week in an unannounced stop in Brussels as part of his first visit to Europe to firm up ties.
Taiwan has worked to strengthen ties with European countries as it faces an increasingly assertive China, which claims the self-ruled democratic island as part of its territory.
The foreign ministry in Taipei had previously announced that Lin, leading a delegation of representatives of 20 Taiwanese drone companies, was scheduled to visit Lithuania during a week-long trip beginning Nov 17.
Rasa Jukneviciene, a member of European Parliament, confirmed in a post on the social media platform X that she met Lin and Taiwan's former de facto ambassador to Lithuania Eric Huang on Tuesday (Nov 19) "at the European Parliament".
The former Lithuanian defence minister also added that Lin was heading to her country on Wednesday in her post.
In response, Lin said on Wednesday: "I extended my sincere appreciation to Jukneviciene ... for her support during our meeting."
"I look forward to further strengthening bilateral relations with Lithuania and we will work hard to achieve success," he added.
Taiwan's foreign ministry said in a short statement on Wednesday that Lin "visited the European Union/Belgium to meet with friends in the European Parliament".
He "used this visit to interact and communicate with European friends", the ministry said, without providing details.
Most countries officially recognise Beijing over Taipei but maintain trade and unofficial relations with the island.
Beijing - which has not renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control - baulks at any international support that might lend a sense of international legitimacy to Taiwan.
It has also reacted with anger to overseas visits by top Taiwanese officials and staged massive military exercises last year to protest then-president Tsai Ing-wen's stopover in the United States.
Lithuania incurred China's wrath by allowing Taiwan to open a representative office in Vilnius under its own name in 2021 - a significant diplomatic departure.
