COn Tuesday, China not only recalled its ambassador to Lithuania. It also called on the Vilnius government to also withdraw its ambassador from China. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited Taiwan’s plan to open a “Taiwan Representative Office” in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Beijing was particularly offended by this name. In his opinion, this sounds too much like the message of an independent country.
Compare this: Taiwan’s representative office in Germany is officially called the “Taipei Representative Office”, while the German representative office in Taipei is called the “German Academy” because it recognizes it like most countries in the world. Federal government Taiwan has not officially become an independent country. In European countries, no organization has “Taiwan” in its name. Beijing called on Lithuania to “immediately correct the wrong decision, take concrete actions to repair the damage, and stop taking the wrong path.”
China is obviously worried that Lithuania’s example will set a precedent. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis mentioned this in an interview with the news agency on Tuesday. Reuters Said, “Lithuania will continue its policy, because this is not only the policy of Lithuania, but also the policy of many European countries.” The minister called China’s decision “disappointing.” The next steps are still under discussion.
“Addressing human rights and forced labor”
The Taiwan issue is by no means the only issue on which Beijing and Vilnius diverge. In the past few months, Lithuania has actively sought to adopt a tougher attitude towards China in the EU. In May, Lithuania announced its withdrawal from the “17 plus one” discussion format and asked other EU countries to do the same. In 2012, China created a format for communicating with 16 Central and Eastern European countries (including 12 EU member states) at that time.
In an interview with FAZ in March, Landsbergis stated that “this form is accompanied by the splitting of the European Union and greater political pressure from China”. In addition, the expected investment “did not meet expectations.” The Minister of Foreign Affairs also advocated that the issue of “human rights and forced labor” should be dealt with more clearly in exchanges with China at the European level. “We are observing how China is trying to invade Europe with its values,” Landsbergs told FAZ
Other participating countries also criticized the “17+1” discussion format. IThey secretly complained about the lack of investment and Beijing’s arrogant attitude to dominate the meeting agenda. However, due to economic considerations, this criticism is not expressed clearly outside of Lithuania. At the most recent video summit in February, interest gradually waned, when the six countries were represented by ministers instead of heads of government. Since President Xi Jinping personally presided over the summit, this was regarded as an insult to China.
Military pressure backfired
In the course of its anti-China policy, Lithuania has recently established a closer relationship with democratically governed Taiwan. After the Taipei government complained that China had delayed Taiwan’s efforts to purchase BioNTech vaccines, Taiwan provided 20,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine. Slovakia also donated 10,000 doses of vaccine to Taiwan. In Beijing, this has also been criticized as an attack on China’s sovereignty. China is also angry that the Lithuanian parliament, like the Belgian and Dutch parliaments, called China’s violations of human rights in Xinjiang as “genocide” and “crimes against humanity.”
Just a few days ago, Lithuania announced that it would open a “representative office” in Taiwan before the end of the year, and send its deputy foreign minister or economic minister to Taipei. This should not quell Beijing’s dissatisfaction. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that Lithuania “disregarded repeated opposition and signs of potential consequences.” Vilnius’ agreement to the Taiwan mission violated the spirit of the agreement reached when China and Lithuania established diplomatic relations and “seriously damaged China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.” This crossed the red line.
Every Tuesday
China regards Taiwan as part of its territory. Its complicated international status is a legacy of China’s civil war. Its loser, the leadership and army of the Republic of China, fled to Taiwan in 1949. They represented China in the United Nations until 1971. After the People’s Republic of China took over, more and more countries established diplomatic relations with Beijing, reducing their relations with Taipei. At present, only 14 countries and the Holy See in the world recognize the Republic of China, namely Taiwan. The Beijing government has tried every means to isolate the Taiwan government internationally. However, the military threat to Taiwan in particular has had the opposite effect. The United States has recently strengthened its relations with Taipei.
