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Stumbling block: Taiwan's new agency in Lithuania
Photo: PETRAS MALUKAS / AFP
Looking at Lithuania's own history, it shouldn't come as a surprise which side the country took in the conflict between Taiwan and China.
Beijing is still pissed off - and wants to make an example of the small Baltic state.
China has downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania: The Foreign Ministry in Beijing announced on Sunday that it would no longer send an ambassador to the Baltic nation. Instead, China will in future only have its diplomatic representation in Lithuania regulated by a
chargé d'affaires
below the ambassadorial level.
China withdrew its previous ambassador in August. The People's Republic is in a dispute with the EU member state Lithuania over its decision to upgrade its relations with the island republic of Taiwan. Taiwan opened a national representation under its own name in Lithuania on Thursday after both states announced this move to annoy China in July. "Lithuania is responsible for all the resulting consequences," was the response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing at the time.
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.
beb / dpa
