China warns Lithuania not to sever relations because of Taiwan

China on Saturday warned Lithuania and European officials not to sever relations due to Taiwan and Lithuania’s decisions to open missions.

China “strongly opposes” official contacts between Taiwan and countries with diplomatic relations with China, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

“We call on the Lithuanian government to honor the political promises made in establishing diplomatic relations with China and not to make irreversible political decisions,” Vans said. “The European side should take the right position and avoid interfering in the development of a healthy Sino-EU relationship.”

Lithuania’s decision to allow Taiwan to establish a representation in Lithuania, openly using the word “Taiwan” in its name, has angered China, which is trying to prevent any attempt by Taiwan to act as an independent state. Elsewhere in the world, the word ‘Taipei’ is used in the names of such missions, with the international community respecting Beijing’s ‘One China’ policy, which does not allow Taiwan to be seen as a separate country.

China announced in August that it was recalling its ambassador to Vilnius on the grounds of Lithuania’s position on Taiwan, and at the same time demanded the recall of the Lithuanian ambassador to Beijing. Lithuanian Ambassador to China Diāna Mickevičiene returned to Lithuania for consultations in early September.

Lithuania has criticized the human rights situation in China, blocked its investments, but in May announced that it was withdrawing from the 17 + 1 format of economic and political cooperation important to China, which mainly involves Central and Eastern European countries, as it is considered divisive.

China, for its part, has recently begun canceling direct freight train journeys to Lithuania and issuing food export permits, reducing credit limits for Lithuanian companies and raising prices.

Lithuanian businessmen acknowledge that these disagreements have made their cooperation with China significantly more difficult, but the government hopes that closer economic ties with Taiwan could offset these losses over time.