The spokesperson of the Chinese Communist Party’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, said at a daily briefing: “The U.S. has repeatedly created the erroneous words and deeds of’one China, one Taiwan’ for the legislature (the pottery bowl), trying to piece together a small circle that indulges the’Taiwan independence’ forces. This is a further step. Exposing the U.S.’s attempt to’use Taiwan to control China’ will only undermine the United States‘ own international image and will eventually hit itself in the foot.”
Before his remarks, senior diplomats from the United States and Germany on Wednesday stated that the CCP’s pressure on Lithuania was unreasonable.
Lithuania broke its diplomatic practice last year and allowed the Taiwan office in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, to use the name Taiwan instead of Chinese Taipei, which most other countries use to avoid offending Beijing.
Beijing believes that Taiwan is part of its territory and has no right to diplomatic recognition. Lithuania’s move angered Beijing. Beijing withdrew its ambassador to Vilnius and expelled the Lithuanian ambassador to Beijing. Since then, Lithuania has closed its embassy in Beijing.
Under constant pressure from the CCP, Taiwan has only 14 official diplomatic allies left, even though Taiwan has good informal relations with the United States, Germany, and most other major countries.
Lithuania is a country with a population of 2.8 million, a member of the European Union and NATO, and a close ally of the United States.
Wang Wenbin also accused Taiwan of setting up a US$200 million investment fund for Lithuania to offset the CCP’s economic retaliation as “dollar diplomacy”. He said that “striving for foreign support for Taiwan independence will only lead to a dead end”.
Last November, Lithuania opened an office in Taiwan. This year, Lithuania is planning to open a trade office in Taiwan.
Taiwan stated that it is ready to help Lithuania with trade supplies because Lithuanian goods have been prevented from entering by the CCP. Huang Junyao, Taiwan’s representative in Lithuania, said: “(Lithuania) has more than 120 shipping containers with a value of at least 1.5 million euros, which have been blocked by Beijing. We are ready to accept all these (containers) and help Lithuanian companies.”
U.S. Secretary of State Blincoln said after a meeting with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock: “We are concerned about the Chinese government’s attempts to bully Lithuania.”
He said that the CCP has been pushing European and American companies to stop using Lithuanian-made parts and products, otherwise they may lose access to the Chinese market.
Balbok said: “We, as Europeans, stand on the side of Lithuania in solidarity.”
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not directly confirm the trade ban or other forms of retaliation against Lithuania, but stated that Vilnius had crossed a “red line”.
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