As Taiwan (Washington Insider Magazine) – seeks greater autonomy on the world stage, it has found a new strategic partnership with Lithuania. The European Union member Baltic country opened a de-facto embassy for Taiwan in its capital, a move that Beijing sees as a threat to Chinese claims on the island.
The new office is Taiwan’s first in Europe in 18 years, and the first of which to be named Taiwan instead of Chinese Taipei, the name used by China.
Condemning the Baltic country’s choice as a threat to Chinese authority, Beijing recalled its ambassador to Vilnius and told Lithuania’s envoy to Beijing to leave the country. Under China’s “One-China principle,” which sees Taiwan as part of China, renouncing diplomatic ties with Taiwan is a precondition for establishing ties with China. The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the country regrets this latest retaliation from China, but reaffirmed its commitment to strengthening ties with Taiwan.
Lithuanian foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said the Lithuanian and Taiwanese people are “united in commitment to freedom and human rights,” and expressed hope that closer ties will lead to “deeper economic, cultural, technological, and scientific cooperation.”
Taiwan is planning on opening a reciprocal office in Vilnius “with the main aim of developing mutual interests and cooperation in trade, technology, education and culture,” Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou told Newsweek.
This is the first time China has withdrawn an ambassador from a European Union member state over the establishment of ties with Taiwan. A statement released by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Lithuania’s decision “severely undermines China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity” and included strong language cautioning Taiwan against taking steps towards independence.
The statement said the Chinese government and people have an “unswerving determination to achieve reunification,” and warned Taiwan authorities that “Taiwan independence is a dead end.” It urged Lithuania to “immediately rectify its wrong decision, take concrete measures to undo the damage, and not to move further down the wrong path.”
U.S. State Department representative Ned Price expressed support for the U.S.’s European partners as they develop ties with Taiwan, and condemned China’s retaliatory actions. In a press briefing on Aug. 10, he said that the Biden administration supports U.S. European partners and allies in developing mutually beneficial relations with Taiwan and resisting the Chinese government’s “coercive behavior.”
“Each country should be able to determine the contours of its own ‘one China’ policy without outside coercion,” Price said.
Nabila Massrali, a spokeswoman for the European External Action Service, the diplomatic wing of the EU, said the Chinese government’s retaliation would “inevitably have an impact on overall EU-China relations.”
