Lithuania pulls remaining diplomats from China amid tensions looming over Taiwan

Lithuania temporarily pulled all its remaining diplomats out of China over concerns for their safety as tensions between the Baltic nation and Beijing continue to soar over Taiwan. Financial Times stated that Lithuania’s chargé d’affaires ad interim in China Audra Ciapiene returned to Vilnius on Wednesday for consultations. It is to note that she was Lithuania’s most senior diplomat in China after the ambassador was recalled back in September following a similar move by China after Vilnius allowed the opening of Taiwan’s representative office.

The Lithuanian foreign ministry in Vilnius told FT that the embassy will not temporarily operate remotely. The media outlet cited three people familiar with the situation that the Chinese government had demanded the remaining diplomats of the Baltic nation in Beijing to hand in their diplomatic identification to the foreign ministry to have their diplomatic statuses lowered. This move by China, reportedly triggered fresh concerns in Vilnius that the officials could lose diplomatic immunity and their safety could be threatened.

Lithuania’s latest move increases dilemma for EU

It is pertinent to note that the latest move by Lithuania of pulling out the remaining diplomats from China has now increased the dilemma for the EU over how to support one of its member states without risking the consequences for other nations in Beijing’s retaliation, stated FT. The Baltic nation’s deteriorating relations with China over Taiwan is also expected to spark a global debate over how democracies can respond to China’s increasing coercion.

The media outlet also quoted a western diplomat in Beijing as saying, “China is sending the message to other European countries that the punishment will be draconian if you follow Lithuania’s example, so people would like to deal with this cautiously…But at the same time, we must make clear that steps against one member country are steps against the EU.”

The evacuation of Lithuanian diplomats from the mainland followed a range of threats that China floated as retaliatory measures for Baltic nation giving a nod to Taiwan’s representative office in Vilnius under the island’s own name back in July. China had recalled its ambassador from Lithuania in August and demanded Vilnius to “immediately rectify its wrong decision, take concrete measures to undo the damage, and not move further down the wrong path”.

Just last month, the Taiwanese representative office was inaugurated in Vilnius which was followed by Beijing imposing sanctions on Lithuania. China has also blocked all Lithuanian exports and removed the EU member state from the customs administration’s country list.

(IMAGE: AP)