Former Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen to visit Lithuania

VILNIUS – Former Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen is set to visit Lithuania this week.

On Friday, Tsai will deliver a speech at Vilnius University and join former Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite for a discussion, according to the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius. 

The visit "aims to engage in comprehensive dialogue with many Lithuanian friends, with a view to further advancing the substantive bilateral partnership between Taiwan and Lithuania across a wide range of sectors", the office told BNS on Wednesday.

Tsai served as Taiwan's president from 2016 to 2024. During her presidency, China stepped up its military, economic and diplomatic pressure on the island.

In 2021, as Lithuania began building closer ties with Taiwan, the island's representative office was opened in Vilnius. It was named "Taiwanese" in Lithuanian and English, but the Chinese version uses the name "Taiwan".

Beijing sees this as an attempt by Taiwan to act as an independent state and has urged Lithuania to change the name in order to normalize relations.