Taipei announced Thursday, November 18, that it had officially opened a representative office in Lithuania under the name Taiwan, a significant diplomatic gap that China had previously condemned.
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“
The Taiwanese representative office in Lithuania officially begins its activities in Vilnius on November 18, 2021,
” the Foreign Ministry said, breaking with the island's tradition of calling these de facto embassies “
Taipei Representative Office
".
Lithuania announced in July the opening of a representation in Vilnius called the “
Taiwan Representative Office
”, which sparked a campaign of pressure from China aimed at isolating the autonomous democratic island on the international stage.
In response, Beijing recalled its ambassador to Lithuania and demanded that Vilnius recall its ambassador to China, which Lithuania did.
Beijing also halted freight trains to Lithuania and stopped issuing food export permits.
A new "representative office"
Only 15 countries officially recognize Taipei compared to Beijing, which claims the autonomous democratic island as part of its territory and has vowed to recapture it one day, by force if necessary. But Taiwan nevertheless maintains relations with dozens of countries through "
representative offices
" which do not have the status of embassies. Beijing is working to keep Taipei isolated on the international stage and refuses any official use of the word "
Taiwan
", fearing that it will give the island a sense of international legitimacy.
Taiwan's foreign ministry said the Lithuanian office would be headed by Eric Huang, currently Taipei's chief of mission in neighboring Latvia.
"
This blessed opening will give a promising new course to bilateral relations between Taiwan and Lithuania,
" Taipei said in its statement.
Last year Taiwan opened reciprocal offices with Somaliland.
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This office also used the word “
Taiwan
” but unlike Lithuania Somaliland is not recognized as a sovereign state by most nations.
