The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday condemned China’s sanctions against Lithuanian Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Agne Vaiciukeviciute for visiting Taiwan on Tuesday.
China’s foreign ministry said on Friday it had imposed sanctions on Vaiciukeviciute for visiting Taiwan, adding that China would also suspend engagement with Vaiciukeviciute’s ministry and cooperation on transportation with Lithuania, a small Baltic republic.
MOFA yesterday condemned the sanctions, saying they amounted to “irrational retaliation” by China.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
“Taiwan vows to continue to do its best to assist Lithuania to counter the unreasonable and arbitrary suppression of the Chinese government,” MOFA said in a statement.
“Goliath = bullies like #China & #Russia; David = moral giants like #Taiwan & #Lithuania. We, the forces for good, won’t shy away from the values we hold close to our hearts despite threats & coercion,” Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said on Twitter yesterday.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Transport and Communications said it regrets China’s announcement.
“Beijing is choosing to continue and intensify the course of illegal actions against [an] EU member state,” the Lithuanian ministry said in a statement to Reuters.
“This is not only not conducive to the development of China’s relations with the democratic world, but also reverses Beijing’s own declared policy so far of not hindering the development of a mutually beneficial relationship with Taiwan, one of the world’s most progressive economies,” it said.
Lithuania’s recent bolstering of relations with Taiwan has infuriated Beijing and led to a fall in Lithuanian exports to China in the first quarter of this year to almost zero.
Vaiciukeviciute said on Twitter on Friday that she had visited three cities and two seaports, and had 14 meetings in Taiwan over a five-day period.
“A productive week in Taiwan, looking for more ways of LT Transport cooperation with TW maritime, shipping and aviation companies,” she wrote, referring to Lithuania and Taiwan by their abbreviations.
Vaiciukeviciute visited Taiwan the week after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s overnight stop in Taipei. In response to Pelosi’s visit, China launched massive military drills around Taiwan, slapped sanctions on Pelosi and initiated trade restrictions with Taiwan.
When Lithuanian Vice Minister of the Economy and Innovation Jovita Neliupsiene visited Taipei in June, she said Lithuania planned to open a representative office in Taiwan in September.
Lithuania has come under sustained Chinese pressure to reverse a decision last year to allow Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in the capital, Vilnius, under its own name — the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania.
China has downgraded diplomatic relations with Lithuania and pressured multinational companies to sever ties with the country.
In January, the EU launched a challenge at the WTO accusing China of discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania, arguing that this threatened the integrity of the bloc’s single market.
China said that it has always abided by WTO rules and that its problem with Lithuania is political, not economic, in nature.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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