Image: Reuters Berita 24 English - China's foreign ministry said on Friday that it had punished Lithuanian Deputy Transport and Communic...
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| Image: Reuters |
Berita 24 English - China's foreign ministry said on Friday that it had punished Lithuanian Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Agne Vaiciukeviciute for visiting Taiwan. This is the latest step in Beijing's diplomatic dispute with the European Union country.
The foreign ministry also said that China would stop working with Vaiciukeviciute's ministry and would stop working with Lithuania, a small Baltic country, on transportation issues.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications in Lithuania said it was sad to hear what China said.
In a statement to Reuters, the Lithuanian ministry said, "Beijing has chosen to keep and step up its illegal actions against an EU member state."
"This is not only bad for China's relations with the democratic world, but it also goes against what Beijing has said about not getting in the way of a mutually beneficial relationship with Taiwan, which has one of the most progressive economies in the world."
China says that Taiwan is its land, so it doesn't want foreign politicians to go there. Taiwan's democratic government says no to China's claims.
On Saturday, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry said that the sanctions were "irrational retaliation" from China.
In a statement, the ministry said, "Taiwan promises to keep doing what it can to help Lithuania fight against the unreasonable and arbitrary repression by the Chinese government."
Beijing is angry that Lithuania is getting closer to Taiwan. This has caused Lithuanian exports to China to drop to almost nothing in the first quarter of this year.
Vaiciukeviciute said on Twitter on Friday that she had spent the last five days in Taiwan going to three cities, two seaports, and 14 meetings.
She tweeted, using the abbreviations for Lithuania and Taiwan, "A productive week in Taiwan, looking for more ways for LT Transport to work with TW maritime, shipping, and aviation companies."
Vaiciukeviciute went to Taiwan a few days after Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, went there. In response to Pelosi's visit, China started big military drills around Taiwan, put sanctions on Pelosi, and made it harder for Taiwan to trade with other countries.
When Jovita Neliupsiene, Lithuania's vice minister of the economy and innovation, went to Taipei in June, she said that Lithuania planned to open a representative office in Taiwan in September.
China has kept putting pressure on Lithuania to change a decision it made last year to let Taiwan open a de facto embassy in Vilnius under its own name.
China's diplomatic ties with Lithuania have gotten worse, and China has put pressure on multinational companies to cut ties with the country.
In January, the EU filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization, saying that China was unfairly treating Lithuania in trade and that this was a threat to the single market of the EU bloc.
China said that it has always followed the rules of the WTO and that its problem with Lithuania is not economic but political.
