Lithuania and China will continue consultations on restoring diplomatic representation in Beijing and Vilnius. This was the outcome of a working meeting between Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a Chinese delegation held on November 12 in Vilnius.
Details of the talks will not be made public, Lithuania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The Chinese delegation included representatives of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and diplomats from China’s mission to the European Union.
“No decisions of any kind are possible today. We are preparing various options and possibilities regarding what we can do and how it can be implemented,” Kęstutis Budrys told reporters in the Lithuanian parliament.
No confirmed list of Chinese demands
The diplomatic interest was prompted by a publication in Pravda.ru, according to which Lithuania had presented China with a “long list of demands” for normalizing relations. The material was published in the opinion section and contains the author’s assessments, but the claim that an official list was handed over has not been confirmed in the public statements about the meeting.
Budrys described the contact as “one of the meetings” between the two countries, which was neither the most important nor the last. He neither confirmed nor denied that a change in the name of Taiwan’s representative office in Vilnius had been discussed. According to him, the discussions covered China’s positions on the events of 2021, the current state of relations and possible future steps.
“This is one of the conversations. Depending on its results, we will organize our next actions, and the process is continuing,” the Lithuanian foreign minister said.
The dispute began over Taiwan’s representative office
Relations between Vilnius and Beijing deteriorated sharply after a representative office of Taiwan was opened in the Lithuanian capital in November 2021. The use of the name “Taiwan” instead of the customary “Taipei” for such offices provoked a strong reaction from China.
Beijing downgraded its diplomatic representation in Lithuania from ambassadorial level to that of a chargé d’affaires and imposed trade restrictions. Subsequently, diplomatic contacts between the two countries remained at a lower level.
The current Lithuanian government program provides for the normalization of relations with China by restoring diplomatic representation to the level maintained by the other European Union member states. Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius said in October that he expected a breakthrough by the end of the year, pointing to December as a possible deadline.
Budrys, however, stressed that no decisions have been made at this point and that relations with China and Taiwan are not among Lithuania’s priorities. The next step will be to continue bilateral consultations.