Lithuania’s former foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, has received the Order of Brilliant Star from Taiwan, honouring significant contributions to the nation’s development. This award can be granted to both Taiwanese nationals and foreigners. Taiwan recognised Landsbergis’ role in promoting closer relations between Lithuania and Taiwan.
“My deepest gratitude to the people of Taiwan and their President
@ChingteLai for the huge honour of being awarded the Order of the Brilliant Star with Special Grand Cordon. What can I say? I will be with you whatever it takes, Taiwan,” Landsbergis posted on social platform X.
“Pleased to present Lithuania’s former FM @GLandsbergis
with a decoration for his extraordinary contributions to #Taiwan–#Lithuania relations. Sharing his belief that freedom-loving people should look out for each other, we look forward to further advancing our partnership,” Lai Ching-te, President of Taiwan, also wrote on X.
In 2021, when Landsbergis was foreign minister, Lithuania opened the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius. This move prompted a strong objection from China, which considers Taiwan a breakaway province. China criticised using “Taiwan” instead of “Taipei” and began exerting diplomatic and economic pressure on Lithuania.
As a result, Beijing downgraded its diplomatic representation in Lithuania from ambassadorial to chargé d’affaires, halted direct railway freight services to the country, and significantly restricted the import of Lithuanian goods into the Chinese market.
In the same year, under Landsbergis’ initiative, Lithuania withdrew from the 17+1 cooperation format, a forum for China and Central and Eastern European countries, and he encouraged other EU member states to do the same.
In another post on X, Landsbergis explained: “People often ask me, ‘Why does Lithuania support Taiwan?’. My answer is simple: We support democracy and freedom-loving people. To push back against aggression, we all need to stick together. We have more in common than we dare to think!”
