New Delhi: China and Lithuania have gotten into a war of words over the latter’s decision to allow Taiwan to open an office in the country’s capital Vilnius under its own name.
While China considers self-ruled Taiwan part of its territory, the island nation maintains informal ties with all major nations. However, Chinese pressure has reduced its formal diplomatic allies to 15.
On Tuesday, China recalled its ambassador to Lithuania over the Taiwan office and also asked the Baltic country to do the same.
Lithuania, on its part, responded Wednesday by reiterating its determination to pursue ties with Taiwan.
A statement from the country’s foreign ministry read: “While regretting this move of China, the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry takes this opportunity to reiterate that in line with the One-China policy Lithuania is determined to pursue mutually beneficial ties with Taiwan like many other countries in the European Union and the rest of the world do.”
Meanwhile, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters Wednesday that the “definition of the one-China principle is not to be distorted”.
She added: “Lithuania’s decision to allow the Taiwan authorities to open a ‘representative office’ under the name of ‘Taiwan’ has seriously infringed upon China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and severely contravened the one-China principle.”
The one-China policy, or the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ policy, refers to the diplomatic acknowledgement of China’s position that there is only one Chinese government and Taiwan is an integral part of that.
It was originally proposed in the late 1970s by the then Chinese Communist leader Deng Xiaoping.
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Taiwan and Lithuania agreed last month the office in Vilnius will open later this year and will bear Taiwan’s name instead of Chinese Taipei — a “compromise” moniker Taiwan uses internationally.
While recalling its ambassador Tuesday, Beijing had urged Lithuania to “immediately rectify its wrong decision, take concrete measures to undo the damage, and not to move further down the wrong path”.
It had also threatened consequences if the demands were not met, without detailing what the consequences were.
Lithuania has emerged as the most vocal critic of China in the European Union. It dropped out of a forum of 17 Central and Eastern European nations organised by China to strengthen ties with the region, and also assisted Taiwan with vaccine supply, according to a report in the South China Morning Post.
(Edited by Rachel John)
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