Taiwan, China downgrades diplomatic relations with Lithuania

(ANSA) - BEIJING, NOV 21 - China has officially downgraded diplomatic relations with Lithuania to the rank of "business assignments", the Foreign Ministry said today, in protest after Taiwan has indeed established an embassy in Vilnius.

    "The Chinese government had to lower the diplomatic relations between the two countries to safeguard its sovereignty and the basic standards of international relations," the ministry said in a statement.

   (HANDLE).