The following is from a particular feature article on Japan-Taiwan relations in the monthly magazine "Sound Argument," released yesterday.
It opens with an article by Ms. Mina Mitsui, the Paris bureau chief of the Sankei Shimbun.
She is a real woman journalist.
Learn from Lithuania, a country that turned pro-Taiwan
Lithuania, one of the three Baltic states of the former Soviet Union, has adopted a pro-Taiwan policy and confronts China head-on.
Last fall, when Lithuania approved the establishment of a representative office bearing the name "Taiwan," it was fiercely criticized by China as a violation of the "One China" policy. Change the name.
The U.S. and Europe have announced their support for Lithuania, and the struggle of the small country has now become a touchstone for the democratic circle to confront the authoritarian state.
What is happening in Lithuania, more than 6,000 kilometers away from China?
I went there to find out.
A domino of threats
If a map of Lithuania immediately comes to your mind, you must be quite an internationalist.
The northern latitude is almost the same as the northernmost tip of Sakhalin.
It is located at the eastern edge of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (E.U.) and borders Belarus.
It has a population of about 2.8 million, less than that of Ibaraki Prefecture.
At the end of December last year, I visited the capital, Vilnius.
The day was as dark as evening, and the cold wind of 5 degrees below zero chapped my cheeks.
Walking along the snow-covered sidewalks, I saw the Parliament building across the square, nearly falling several times.
The vast, intimidating concrete structure is a remnant of the Cold War era.
It once housed the Lithuanian-Soviet Supreme Council and was called the "Soviet Palace.
I visited the Capitol to interview Mr. Matas Mardeykis, a member of the parliament who chairs the Committee on China-Taiwan Relations.
Mr. Mardeykis is a member of the center-right "Fatherland Alliance," the first ruling party, and had just led a delegation of Baltic parliamentarians to Taiwan. After Mr. Mardeykis called on Latvian and Estonian lawmakers to join him, it realized the commission.
They are ten participating lawmakers, including six from Lithuania's ruling and opposition parties.
Mr. Mardeykis is 41 years old.
He has a friendly smile on his face, but his eyes are sharp behind his round glasses.
He seemed to be still reeling from the excitement of his visit to Taiwan and opened by saying, "Support for Taiwan is not just sympathy for a small island that China threatens. It is an issue that directly affects the security of our country," he said.
When it says "security," it is not assuming that China will fire missiles at Lithuania.
He is accusing China and Russia of being linked and threatening the democratic circle.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin exerts both military and political pressure on Ukraine and Eastern Europe, Xi Jinping's administration is shaking up Taiwan in tandem.
Senator Mardeikis asserted, "This is not just a coincidence.
Russia remains the most significant threat for Lithuania even after the Soviet Union disappeared.
"During my visit to Taiwan, I held more than 30 meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen and senior government officials to hear about the threats facing Taiwan.
During my visit to Taiwan, I had more than 30 meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen and senior government officials to learn about Taiwan's threats, including cyber-attacks from China, the dissemination of disinformation, and military threats such as the intrusion of Chinese military aircraft into the air defense zone.
I was amazed at how similar Russia and China are in their methods of shaking up their democratic 'neighbors.'
Mr. Mardikis warned of a "domino effect" of Sino-Russian collaboration.
Saying, "The world is now divided into authoritarian nations such as China, Russia, and democracies. It is just as the world was once polarized into the U.S. and the Soviet Union. If democracy collapses somewhere, it will have a domino effect, and pressure will spread to other regions. If China crushes democracy in Taiwan, the impact will extend to small democracies in Eastern Europe, like our country. China and Russia are colluding to shake up their neighbors and see how the U.S. reacts. The democratic circles must unite to help Taiwan."
Lithuania is bordered on the west by the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
The Belarusian border on the east is only 20 kilometers away from the parliament building.
On the interview day, Belarus sent Middle Eastern migrants to the Lithuanian border to encourage a border breach.
Although Lithuania is a small country, it is susceptible to security issues.
In the background, there is a history of hardship. In the Middle Ages, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania prospered as one of the most powerful countries in Europe, but the Russian Empire annexed it at the end of the 18th century.
Lithuania achieved its long-cherished independence at the end of World War I, only to be invaded by the Soviet Union about 20 years later.
It is now a member of NATO, but in 2015, in response to the growing threat from Russia, it reinstated the conscription system that it had abolished.
As for China, the Ministry of Defense warned in its 2019 report that espionage is growing in the country.
It said that the small country of Lithuania is being used as a base for collecting classified information for NATO and the E.U.
Furthermore, last September, the Ministry of Defense issued an unprecedented recommendation to its citizens, telling them not to use Chinese smartphones and destroy those who own them.
It warned that the products of Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi had built-in detection functions for terms such as "Long Live Taiwan Independence" and "Free Tibet" and could be remotely controlled.
At the root of Lithuania's pro-Taiwan policy is a sense of crisis over the U.S.'s "departure" from Europe.
The U.S., the ally of NATO, has shifted its focus to Asia to concentrate on strategic competition with China.
For this reason, France and Germany on the European side are committed to Europe's security. Still, Lithuania's, the United States, and Europe division is a nightmare scenario.
By appealing that "the crisis between Russia and China is one" through support for Taiwan, Lithuania's aim to hold the U.S.-European alliance together is transparent.
Both of Mr. Mardikis's parents are economists, and he served as a member of the European Parliament after Lithuania acceded to the E.U.
It instilled the firm belief that the nation's fate depends on the U.S.-European alliance in him from childhood.
The Spirit of Anti-Communism
In Japan, the mention of Lithuania probably reminds many people of Chiune Sugihara, the diplomat who issued the "Visa for Life" to Jewish refugees.
Sugihara was posted to the Lithuanian consulate in 1939 and was forced to leave after only one year.
The Soviet Union annexed Lithuania in 1940 under the secret protocol of the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union. During the Soviet era, Lithuania was forced into communism and Russian education for half a century and trampled on nationalism.
The humiliating experience is still engraved in the minds of the people.
In fact, Taiwan's population is nine times larger than Lithuania's, and its Gross Regional Product (GRP) is 11 times more prominent. Still, the Lithuanian people have a strong sympathy for the "small democracy" that fights against the Communist Party, which is the foundation of their pro-Taiwan policy.
Dvirė Shakalien is a good example. She belongs to the center-left opposition party and is a parliamentary rival of Mr. Mardikis.
Still, they are comrades in pro-Taiwanese policies, and she participated in a parliamentary delegation to Taiwan.
She is now 43 years old, with blond hair and a smile on her face, but when she talks about China, her face turns grim.
"I grew up hearing about the horrors of Soviet oppression from my grandparents. The scary thing about communism is that it seeks to expand its power, crush humanity, and eradicate those who rebel against it. So we can't just sit back and watch the Chinese Communist Party intimidate Taiwan."
Senator Shakalien's grandfather refused to serve in the Red Army and forced labor in Siberia.
Her grandmother was also branded a dissident and sent to Siberia.
Her brothers slipped up and spoke ill of the Soviet Union, and someone told them, and they were arrested.
When I was 11 years old, it declared independence.
I will never forget my grandfather shedding tears like a child, saying, 'It's like a dream, my wish is finally coming true."
Ms. Shakalien studied in the United States during her high school years and inhaled the wind of liberalism.
After graduating from university, she worked for a government-affiliated human rights organization.
Since becoming a member of the Diet, she has been calling for human rights diplomacy.
Last May, when the Lithuanian Parliament adopted a resolution calling for an investigation of genocide in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, she was the proponent of the solution.
This article continues.
