《TAIPEI TIMES》 Minister Wu touts links with Prague

‘UNITED WE STAND’: The foreign minister urged Taiwan and the Czech Republic ‘to work with and support each other’ in the face of worldwide threats to democracy

By Lin Chia-nan / Staff reporter

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Taiwan and the Czech Republic share the determination to defend democracy and freedom, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu （吳釗燮） told a forum in Prague yesterday, calling on democratic countries to unite against authoritarianism.

Wu made the remarks at a forum cohosted by the Czech Academy of Sciences and Czech think tank Sinopsis titled “Towards a productive relationship: Engaging with Taiwan in multiple domains.”

“As a former political scientist studying democratization, I have always wanted to visit late [Czech] president Vaclav Havel’s motherland,” Wu is cited as saying in a statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

“The pursuit of freedom and democracy has always been the most important reason that our two countries are closely connected,” he said.

The combination of new technologies and social media has empowered people around the world to voice their views, but at the same time, democracy’s enemies have become increasingly bold and outspoken, Wu said.

“Our democratic accomplishments … need to be underpinned by determination and principles. This is especially true in times when authoritarianism continuously seeks to undermine the values and institutions that we all cherish,” he said.

When democracies are threatened around the world, “we need to work with and support each other. United we stand, divided we fall,” he said.

Taiwan is willing to share its valuable experiences in economic and technological developments with like-minded countries around the world and serve as “a force for good” against authoritarianism, Wu said.

Wu is part of a delegation to Europe that has since Sunday been visiting Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Wu is invited to a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international group of lawmakers, in Rome tomorrow, which he might attend via videoconference due to the visit’s tight schedule, the ministry said.

The ministry did not confirm media reports that Wu would also visit Poland and Brussels.

Moreover, a 66-person trade and investment delegation is visiting Lithuania, after leaving the Czech Republic on Tuesday.

Taiwan and Lithuania have agreed to establish representative offices in each other’s capitals, despite pressure from the Chinese government.

Lithuania’s representative office is expected to open at the beginning of next year, Lithuanian Minister of the Economy and Innovation Ausrine Armonaite said.

A Taiwanese firm might open a semiconductor factory in Lithuania, she said.

During a bilateral trade and investment forum yesterday, Taiwan and Lithuania signed six memorandums of understanding in life sciences, information and communications technology, financial technology, electric vehicles, laser technology, semiconductors and food processing.

Additional reporting by CNA

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES