Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark.
Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing.
Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage.
The former president was to first visit Lithuania, where she would speak at Vilnius University and with former Lithuanian president Dalia Grybauskaite, who was in office from 2009 to 2019, Tsai’s office said.
After concluding her visit to the Baltic nation, Tsai is scheduled to visit Denmark to speak at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit in the Danish capital. The summit is on Tuesday and Wednesday. It was unclear how long Tsai would be in Europe.
It is Tsai’s second visit to Europe since leaving office in May last year after a trip to the Czech Republic, France and Belgium.