Jakarta, CNN Indonesia —
China ask Lithuania withdrew its ambassador in Beijing after the Baltic nation allowed Taiwan opened a de facto representative office in Vilnius.
“China has decided to withdraw its ambassador to Lithuania and urges the Lithuanian government to withdraw its ambassador to China,” said a statement from the Chinese Foreign Ministry released on their official website, Tuesday (10/8).
China was angry that the office which was inaugurated was named the Taiwan Representative Office. This is the first time President Tsai Ing-Wen’s government has opened a representative office abroad using the name “Taiwan”.
So far, Taiwan has opened a representative mission abroad under the name of the Taipei Representative Office because of its conflict with China.
“We urge the Lithuanian side to immediately correct its wrong decision and take concrete actions to repair the damage, by not going further down the wrong path,” the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement.
Taiwan announced the opening of its new representative office in Lithuania last July. Since then, China has criticized the plan.
Meanwhile, Lithuania itself has announced plans to build an official representative mission of its country in Taiwan since early 2021. The country has also donated 20,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine for Taiwan.
“Lithuania allows it by ignoring China’s representation and articulation of potential consequences. And this is very damaging to China’s sovereignty,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry wrote.
China is often angry when a country is close and has formal relations with Taiwan. China considers Taiwan a territory of dissidents seeking independence.
China insists that Taiwan is part of its sovereign territory and all countries with ties to Beijing must agree to the One China principle.
Beijing doesn’t even hesitate to cut ties with every country that has relations with China, but at the same time wants to establish official relations with Taiwan.
So far, only 15 countries have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
In February, Guyana scrapped its agreement with Taiwan on the construction of a representative office, a day after Taipei announced the plan.
Taiwan blames China’s “intimidation” for the failure of its plan to build a representative office in the South American country.
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