TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Following reports Lithuania may change the name of Taiwan’s representative office, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said he believed the name would remain.

In an interview with POP Radio broadcast, Wu said there have been discussions about the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania, but it involves agreements between the two governments. 

He pointed out that even opposition parties in Lithuania do not believe a change is necessary. Some who were originally opposed have gradually come to see Taiwan as a reliable partner in recent years, he said.

Ahead of Lithuania’s May 12 presidential election, President Gitanas Nauseda said changing the office’s name “could serve as Lithuania’s signal towards the normalization of diplomatic relations with China,” Lithuania’s LRT reported.  After the office opened in November 2021, China downgraded diplomatic relations and placed sanctions against imports from the Baltic country.

Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it intends to bolster friendship and cooperation between the two democracies. There were active partnerships in the fields of semiconductors, lasers, finance, healthcare, and agriculture, the ministry said.