TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A Taiwanese delegation attended a high-level Lithuanian Frontline Democracies meeting, which was held in its capital city of Vilnius from July 7-8.

The group was led by Taiwan’s envoy to the U.S. Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Deputy Foreign Minister Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), and Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) and Lin Ching-yi (林靜儀).

During the conference, participants discussed the challenges facing global democracy and the possible ways to confront them. Lithuania Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte said that disruptive activities of authoritarian regimes were not new to the nation, but their pressure has increased in recent years, according to a Lithuanian foreign ministry press release.

Simonyte said that according to the Freedom House, the world has already gone through 17 years of democratic regression, the consequences of which are evident in Lithuania and its neighboring nations, per the press release. Similar examples of “subversive activities” by authoritarian governments around the world can be observed as well, she said.

Thus, now is the time for democracies to bolster cooperation to combat authoritarian colonialism and protect the rules-based international order, according to the press release. The meeting was attended by representatives from 12 nations, the Alliance of Democracies, Freedom House, National Endowment for Democracy, and other groups dedicated to strengthening democracy.

The Taiwan delegation also attended a freedom seminar marking the centenary of diplomatic relations between Lithuania and the United States on July 7. The delegation was the only one from an Asian country at the event.