Lithuanian Foreign Minister Ken only needs to stomp his tiny foot - M. Sinkevičius: Relations with China can be restored without changing the name of the Taiwanese mission

 

“Prime Minister-designate Mindaugas Sinkevičius says he sees a possibility of restoring relations with China without changing the name of the Taiwanese mission.

 

“Yes, I think that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has several options for how to resolve this situation, and I think that one way or another the minister will announce it as soon as he is ready,” M. Sinkevičius said after the approval of the Government Program in the Seimas on Tuesday.

 

According to him, the step to open the Taiwanese mission was presented as bold and promising, but did not receive the support from European partners that was expected.

 

"I think that our partners in Europe were actually surprised by such a step. I think that this was such a unilateral decision by the minister (Gabrielius Landsbergis - BNS) and, referring to this, I said that sometimes courage, initiative and leadership pay off, and sometimes it is perhaps a failure to fit into the general background," said the prime minister-designate.

 

The issue of Lithuania's relations with China is again being discussed more widely with the change of governments and the arrival of M. Sinkevičius to the post of prime minister.

 

Vilnius' relations with Beijing deteriorated in 2021, when Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a Taiwanese representative office in the country.

 

In 2021, China unilaterally lowered the level of diplomatic representation from ambassadors to chargé d'affaires ad interim, renamed its embassy in Lithuania the "Chargé d'affaires ad interim", and renamed the Lithuanian representative office in Beijing accordingly.

 

Having refused to recognize such representations, Lithuania refused to issue new accreditations to Chinese diplomats seeking accreditation as employees of the “Charges d’Affaires ad interim.”

 

As a result, there has been no Chinese diplomat in Lithuania since May of last year.

 

Following recent public discussions in Lithuania, China reiterated its openness to dialogue on the restoration of diplomatic relations with Lithuania, but stressed its confidence that Vilnius will take urgent and decisive action to correct the situation.”