Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas has expressed a clear intention to repair his country’s strained relationship with China, offering to resolve the diplomatic fallout caused by the naming of Taiwan’s representative office in Vilnius.
“If the Chinese have interests or plans in the EU, Lithuania is one of the EU countries. Lithuania’s voice in Europe is certainly not the last one, then China is also interested in having diplomatic relations with us,” Paluckas told reporters on Tuesday.
Tensions between the two countries began in 2021 when Lithuania permitted the opening of a “Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania.” The use of the word “Taiwanese” was seen by Beijing as a challenge to its ‘One China’ policy. In response, China withdrew its ambassador from Vilnius and expelled Lithuania’s ambassador from Beijing.
China has since insisted that Lithuania change the name of the office if it wants to restore full diplomatic relations.
“We will not sacrifice anything as respectful bilateral relations are not based on sacrifice, humiliation, or demands to apologise, but on a very businesslike basis,” Paluckas said.
In May 2024, President Gitanas Nausėda also indicated that changing the name of the Taiwanese office might help pave the way toward normalization.
