By The Straits Times | Created at 2024-11-16 19:30:38 | Updated at 2024-11-16 22:43:18
3 hours ago
VILNIUS - Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung is leading a delegation to Lithuania that includes executives from a range of companies, a visit very likely to draw a rebuke from China.
Mr Lin and officials from Taiwan’s Economic Ministry departed early on Nov 17, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Representatives from more than 10 drone companies are also making the trip, said the person, who asked not to be identified discussing the sensitive matter. They are expected to meet Lithuanian government officials and attend a forum in Vilnius focused on drone technologies, the person added.
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has made advancing drone manufacturing a priority since he took office nearly six months ago, an effort partly intended to offset China’s military edge in the tech.
In September, Taiwan hosted two groups of US industry executives so they could meet counterparts in the archipelago of 23 million people that China has pledged to bring under its control eventually.
And in October, Taiwan’s Defence Ministry signed agreements with the US allowing it to buy as many as 1,000 attack drones from AeroVironment and Anduril Industries, to aid in blunting a potential Chinese invasion.
Beijing strongly distrusts Mr Lai because it worries he will push to formalise independence, and since he became president has twice held major military drills that practiced encircling the democracy’s main island. It said the latest maneuvers, in October, were intended as a warning to halt “separatist acts.”
Ukraine’s tactics in its war with Russia have drawn attention globally, methods that have included using relatively cheap drones to destroy larger, more expensive equipment like tanks.
Mr Lin’s predecessor, Mr Joseph Wu, travelled to Europe twice in 2023, and in past years other Taiwanese foreign ministers made trips that were not publicly disclosed, likely to avoid upsetting Beijing.
His trip will probably prompt China to file diplomatic complaints with Lithuania, and possibly to retaliate somehow against Taiwan. Beijing opposes countries it has diplomatic ties with from having any official contact with Taipei.
That could complicate Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda’s push for improving ties with China.
Earlier in 2024, he called for better relations with Beijing after the opening of a Taiwan representative office in his country three years earlier triggered a rift between the world’s No. 2 economy and the European Union member.
Mr Lin’s delegation includes executives from Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development, Thunder Tiger, GEOSAT Aerospace & Technology and a unit of Mitac Holdings, the person familiar with the trip said.
One aim of the visit is to facilitate cooperation between Taiwan and Lithuania on drone tech, said Mr Su Sheng-Chieh, president of Taichung-based drone maker Thunder Tiger.
“Lithuania is particularly good at laser technology that can be used in anti-drone systems,” Mr Su added.
Lithuania’s Defence Ministry announced a plan in May to promote domestic drone makers and teach drone operations at a military academy.
Earlier in November, the Baltic country signed a memorandum of understanding with Ukraine to jointly produce military equipment including the devices. BLOOMBERG
