As of: 21.11.2021 11:03 a.m.
China has cut its diplomatic relations with Lithuania and no longer wants to send an ambassador to the country. The move is in response to the opening of a Taiwan representative office in Vilnius.
China is downgrading its diplomatic relations with EU country Lithuania over a dispute over Taiwan’s claim to independence. Relations would be scaled down to the chargé d’affaires in order to preserve China’s “sovereignty and the basic norms of international relations,” the Foreign Ministry said in Beijing.
The country will no longer send an ambassador to the Baltic nation. Instead, China will in future have its diplomatic representation in Lithuania regulated by a chargé d’affaires below the ambassadorial level.
China is at odds with Lithuania over its decision to upgrade its relations with the island republic of Taiwan. Taiwan opened a representative office under its own name in Lithuania on Thursday. Because of pressure from the People’s Republic, Taiwan usually calls its de facto embassies abroad “Taipei Mission”.
Lithuania regrets downgrading
Vilnius said it regretted Beijing’s move. “Lithuania reaffirms its adherence to the ‘one-China policy’,” said the Foreign Ministry. However, the country has “the right to expand cooperation with Taiwan, including the establishment of non-diplomatic missions.”
A statement released by the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Thursday said the opening of an official Taiwan consulate abroad was an “extremely outrageous act.” Beijing demanded “that the Lithuanian side immediately correct this wrong decision”.
When Lithuania basically allowed Taiwan to operate under its own name in Vilnius in July, China withdrew its ambassador and called on the Lithuanian government to also call back its ambassador in Beijing. In addition, China stopped freight trains to Lithuania and no longer granted the country import permits for food.
Setback for China in Eastern Europe
China sees democratic Taiwan, which split off from the mainland in 1949, as a breakaway province rather than an independent state, and tries to isolate it internationally. The People’s Republic rejects any form of formal relations between other countries and the island republic. Lithuania’s decision to forge closer ties with Taiwan is another setback for China in Eastern Europe, where more and more states are turning away from Beijing in disappointment.
On the one hand, hopes for economic cooperation have not been fulfilled; on the other hand, there is growing criticism of China – for example because of political influence, disregard for the rule of law and human rights violations in the People’s Republic.