Lin Chien-Chi, who chairs the Portugal-Taiwan friendship group in Taiwan's parliament, says an office would help citizens and trade. Portugal's parliament voted down the idea in January.
Marco Rubio urged Portugal to buy the F-35 on his first visit to Lisbon, but no agreement was signed. The government says the fighter choice is not made, Lajes was not discussed, and the prosecutors' inquiry goes on.
The Prosecutor-General's Office confirmed the inquiry, opened on a complaint the Bloco de Esquerda filed in April. It is the first time the base's use since the war began has come before the justice system rather than only parliament.
Brussels appointed Sergio Lino de Almeida Estrela EU Mission Force Commander on 10 September, effective Monday. A separate Council decision taken in May already fixes the end of EUMAM Mozambique at 31 December, and the assessment that decides what follows is due this month.
Two presidential decrees signed on Monday name an air force brigadier-general to command EUMAM Mozambique to September 2027 and a navy commodore to command the ATALANTA naval force to February 2027. Brussels has authorised the Mozambique mission only to 31 December 2026.
Portugal and the United States signed the Lajes defence agreement on 6 September 1951. Article XI of the 1995 accord repealed it by name. The text now in force rolls over every year, and it sorts American requests into three categories with very different answers.
Press attache Aleksei Chekmarev told CNN Portugal that Moscow places Portugal among Europe's most hostile states, citing Lisbon's support for EU sanctions and for Kyiv, days after a drone exploded 300 metres from the Portuguese embassy in Kyiv.
