The opening of a Taiwan representation office in Vilnius in November aroused the anger of the Chinese authorities.
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Lithuania announced Wednesday, December 15, have evacuated all the staff who worked in his embassy in Beijing. Nineteen people – diplomats and their families – embarked, under the eye of police officers, aboard a minibus to the airport in a worthy atmosphere “a thriller of the cold war time “According to The Economist.
On 18 November, Lithuania had authorized the opening of a Taiwan representation office in Vilnius, triggering Beijing’s anger, which tolerates Taipei’s representation offices, name of the capital of the island, but No Taiwan. China then decided to reduce the level of representation between the People’s Republic of China and Lithuania. Beijing did not give visas to Lithuanians and diplomats in the Chinese capital had until December 14 to make their accreditation to the authorities. Not knowing whether they would continue to benefit from diplomatic protection, Lithuania, which rejects the demotion of its diplomatic representation, has enjoined its staff not to replace your papers from China but to leave the country.
The Lithuanian ambassador in China had already left China in August, when Vilnius announced the opening of the Taiwan office, and Beijing had recalled his ambassador in the small Baltic state. Wednesday, the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported to have “recalled Vilnius for consultation with its Acting Business Manager”. “In the absence of a substitute diplomat, the Lithuanian Embassy in China will continue its remote operations,” says the statement. Vilnius says “ready to continue the dialogue with China and restore the functions of its embassy in their integrity once a mutually beneficial agreement has been found.”
Tensions between Beijing and the EU
This diplomatic dispute is accompanied by economic pressures from Beijing. In early December, a “technical problem” would have prevented Chinese customs from accepting any import from Lithuania. On 8 December, the European Union declared itself “ready to stand against any type of political pressure and coercive measures taken against a Member State”, stating that “the development of bilateral relations with one of the Member States has an impact on all EU-China relations “. On the same day, the European Union presented a new legal tool allowing him to respond to the States exercising “deliberate economic pressure” on an EU member.
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