US lawmakers introduce resolution upholding Lithuania-Taiwan relations: Reports

As tensions between China and Taiwan continue to escalate, the United States lawmakers on Friday, 5 November introduced a resolution supporting Lithuania’s efforts to elevate ties with the island. As Beijing continues to claim the self-ruled democratic island as its own ‘breakaway province,’ Focus Taiwan reported that two ranking American senators rolled out a resolution to back Lithuania’s efforts to strengthen ties with Taipei ‘in a way that offends’ the mainland.

Reportedly, the resolution was proposed by the US Republican Senator Jim Risch, who is also a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who is the chair of the Subcommittee on Europe and Regional Security Cooperation. Risch was quoted as saying by the media outlet, “On July 20, 2021, the government of Lithuania announced the opening of a Taiwan Representative Office in its capital city of Vilnius. Since that courageous decision, Lithuania has faced unacceptable economic retaliation from China.”

“This resolution sends a message that when our friends stand up to malign Chinese influence, the United States will support them. I applaud the Lithuanian government for refusing to allow its foreign policy to be dictated by outside powers, and I fully support all nations in strengthening relations with Taiwan” Focus Taiwan quoted Risch as saying.

Lithuania gave nod to Taiwan’s ‘representative office’

Earlier, the Lithuanian government gave a nod to Taiwan for opening its own “representative office.” However, since China considers the self-ruled democratic island as its own, it criticised the nation-building separate diplomatic relations with Taiwan. While China recalled its ambassador to Lithuania and expelled the Baltic nation’s top representative to Beijing as the Baltic nation allowed self-governing Taiwan to open an office under its own name, US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R Sherman spoke with Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on 13 August.

As per the official statement by the US Department of State, Sherman and Landsbergis discussed China and elevating US-Lithuania relations. At the time, the Chinese Foreign Ministry had said in a statement, “Despite numerous notes and warnings from the Chinese side, the Lithuanian government recently announced that it would allow the Taiwanese administration to open a ‘representative office’ on behalf of ‘Taiwan’, which became a gross violation of the communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries.”

(IMAGE: Unsplash/Representative)