Lithuania’s foreign minister, Gabrielius Landsbergis, is defending the decision to allow Taiwan to set up a representative office in his country. China has responded angrily to the plan, withdrawing its ambassador to Lithuania and ordering Lithuania to recall its ambassador in Beijing.
China objects to plans to call the office a “Taiwanese Representative Office”. Up to now, Taiwan’s representative offices abroad have always avoided direct reference to Taiwan in their official names, using “Taipei” instead. China says the decision to explicitly call the office a “Taiwanese” representative office crosses a red line and violates its “one China policy”.
But during a meeting with members of an opposition party, Landsbergis said that Lithuania has done nothing wrong. He said there had been a misunderstanding with China, and that Lithuania is working to restore normal operations at the Chinese embassy in Vilnius and at its embassy in Beijing.