This week, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė said that Lithuania had „jumped the gun“ in seeking diplomatic and economic relations with Taiwan and hinted to the country's media about „first small steps“ being taken to restore ties with China.
„The door remains open for communication between China and Lithuania,“ Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Linas Jianas said at a regular press conference on Friday, as quoted by Reuters.
„We hope that Lithuania will translate its desire to improve bilateral relations into concrete actions and correct its mistake without delay,“ he added.
ELTA recalls that relations between Vilnius and Beijing became significantly strained after the opening of a Taiwanese representative office in Lithuania at the end of 2021. China imposed severe sanctions on both diplomatic and economic fronts. In addition, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially changed the level of diplomatic relations with Lithuania from ambassador to chargé d'affaires. Beijing considers Taiwan a province of China and does not allow Taiwan to establish representative offices in countries with which China maintains official relations.
Tension in bilateral relations had been simmering even before that, following Lithuania's withdrawal from the „17+1“ cooperation format with China. The then head of the country's diplomacy, Gabrielius Landsbergis, called on other EU countries to follow Lithuania's example. However, only neighbouring Estonia and Latvia followed Vilnius' example.
Gintautas Paluckas' Government program identified China as a challenge to Lithuania's foreign and security policy, but such wording is no longer found in the I's commitments—Ruginienė's cabinet. Instead, the government program states that it will seek to restore diplomatic relations with Beijing.
President Gitanas Nausėda has previously stated that he sees no problem with the government's desire to restore closer relations with China. However, as the country's leader emphasised, both countries must be willing to take this step.