TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Deterrence is key to preventing a Taiwan Strait conflict, visiting Lithuanian lawmakers said during a press conference Friday (Jan. 13).

“Appeasement does not work. Only deterrence works,” National Security and Defense Committee Chair  said. He cited Ukraine’s war with Russia as an example.

In 2014, Lithuania, Poland, and other border states urged regional nations to supply Ukraine with more weapons as deterrence against a Russian invasion, Kasciunas said. However, the general response was that arming Ukraine would only provoke Russia.

If nations had given Ukraine the arms it needed back then, it would likely have defeated Russia by now, he said. Ukraine’s success deters other authoritarian regimes around the world from taking similar actions.

Kasciunas said both Lithuania and Taiwan are pursuing a comprehensive approach to defense. “War is not only about guns and weapons ... you need all sectors to contribute to defense,” he said.

He praised Taiwan’s conscription reform, calling it a “very wise idea.” He said that civil defense and strengthening resilience were also important factors and mentioned Lithuania’s rifleman union.

Taiwan friendship group Deputy Chair Dovile Sakaliene pointed out that Lithuania, Taiwan, and Ukraine serve as a catalyst to changing the mentality of appeasement, which “is old and outdated.”

“By withdrawing, or so-called de-escalation, we only incite the aggressor to attack,” Sakaliene said.

She said that once Taiwanese soldiers stationed on Kinmen began shooting down Chinese drones flying overhead, they stopped coming. “If you concede to the bully, he goes further, If you stop them, they stop.”

Additionally, Sakaliene said Taiwan’s help to Ukraine is “a factor of deterrence to China.” It gives more motivation for other European nations to help Taiwan in the event of a Taiwan Strait conflict, she explained.

She added that increasing the unity of democratic nations from the West to the Indo-Pacific will make the price of attacking Taiwan too high. China should take this into consideration, she said.

Regarding this trip to Taiwan, Sakaliene said this was “one of the most fruitful visits that I’ve had in the past 12 months.” She said there were many areas of defense and security cooperation that Taiwan and Lithuania could engage in, such as cybersecurity, combatting disinformation, software and hardware sharing, exchanging defense strategy concepts, and civil defense.

The two parliamentarians were part of a delegation that visited Taiwan from Jan. 9-14. The group met with government officials and defense and security think tanks to learn more about cross-strait tensions and exchange views on the threats Taiwan and Europe are facing.

Taiwan opened a representative office in Lithuania’s capital, Vilnius, in November 2021, causing a backlash from China. The Baltic nation established a trade office in Taipei nearly one year later, in November 2022.