Taiwan to support Lithuania in the face of China intimidation: Envoy

WASHINGTON • Taiwan will deepen economic ties with Lithuania in a "cycle of goodwill" as it faces pressure from Beijing, Taiwan's de facto ambassador to the United States said on Wednesday, after Lithuania's diplomatic delegation hastily departed China.

Lithuania said it had summoned its top diplomat back from China for "consultations" and that the embassy would operate remotely for the time being.

On Wednesday, a group of 19 people comprising embassy personnel and dependants left Beijing en route to Paris, a diplomatic source told Reuters. Another diplomat called their departure a response to "intimidation".

Beijing downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania last month after Taiwan opened a representative office in the capital of the Baltic state.

Lithuania has formal relations with China and not self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province awaiting reunification with the mainland, by force if necessary.

"It is unfortunate that their diplomats are being intimidated," Ms Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's representative in Washington, said.

"We will do what we can in terms of deepening our economic chain and technical cooperation with Lithuania," she added. "The way we see our partnership with Lithuania, it's a virtuous cycle of goodwill and supporting each other."

Lithuanian authorities have complained of efforts by China to punish Lithuania, including pressuring multinational corporations to not work with Lithuanian firms, following Vilnius' decision to enhance engagement with Taiwan.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said yesterday that Chinese authorities had informed diplomats that their identification cards would soon no longer be valid.

"We were given extremely short time... We asked for a longer period, simply because it would be complicated to arrange that return so quickly," he said.

"We did not get any answer to the request, and people returned as fast as possible." Unilateral changes to the status of a country's representatives would violate international treaties, he added.

Separately, Lithuania's presidential adviser yesterday said that its President will ask European leaders for help in the dispute with China over diplomatic relations with Taiwan.

"We think this will lead to a discussion on how the EU and particularly European Commission could help Lithuania in this matter," Ms Asta Skaisgiryte said.

"We want that the conflict to be clear to our European partners, and that the economic actions would be as wide as possible."

China's Foreign Ministry yesterday said that concerns over the safety of Lithuanian diplomats in China were groundless.

Claims that Lithuanian diplomats feared for their personal safety or that China forbade its citizens from working at the country's office are "purely fictitious", Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a briefing.

Despite not having formal ties with Taiwan, the US is Taipei's top backer, and President Joe Biden's administration has been seeking to open more space for the island.

Asked if Taiwan still wanted the US to allow it to symbolically upgrade the name of its presence in Washington from an economic and cultural office to a Taiwan representative office, Ms Hsiao said: "It's the hope and dream of many people of Taiwan that we can be called by our normal, proper name, and it's something that we will continue to communicate with our American partners."

Ms Hsiao said the US and Taiwan had improved the island's arms procurement process in recent years, shifting from less-frequent big-ticket purchases to more regular announcements, as part of its defence reforms to deter military action by China.

"What has happened in the last few years is that the US reviews our needs on a case-by-case basis. So, there is no intention to kind of group everything into a political calendar or convenient time," Ms Hsiao said.

She said the move was not intended to be less offensive to Beijing, which demands that Washington end its weapons sales to Taiwan, but to respond to the island's needs quickly.

"Given the changing threat picture, whereas in previous decades we would focus on peace-time patrols or capabilities, I think what we are focusing now are those specific capabilities that would deter an actual invasion," she said.

REUTERS