China downgrades ties with Lithuania after row over Taiwan

Beijing: Furious over Lithuania for permitting Taiwan to open a representative office, China on Sunday downgraded diplomatic ties with it to the level of charge d’affaires, a move that could further damage Beijing’s relations with the European Union, as the tiny Baltic nation with less than three million population is an influential member of the bloc. “There is only one China in the world and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China”, the foreign ministry said in a statement. It has allowed the establishment in Lithuania of the ‘Representative Office’ bearing the name of Taiwan, thus creating an egregious precedent in the world, the statement said.

Beijing’s conflict with Lithuania comes at a sensitive time when China’s lucrative ties with the EU are under stress over Brussel’s allegations of human rights violations by the communist giant in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet.

Earlier, the EU has backed off from approving the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investments (CAI) as it supported US President Joe Biden’s call for joint opposition to Beijing’s policies on Xinjiang, Hong Kong and called for a probe into the origins of coronavirus. —AP