China recalls Lithuania ambassador over Taiwan office row

The Chinese Foreign Ministry statement called on Lithuania to “immediately rectify its wrong decision, take concrete measures to undo the damage, and not to move further down the wrong path.”

China on Tuesday recalled its ambassador to Lithuania and expelled the Baltic Sea nation’s top representative to Beijing over the country’s decision to allow self-governing Taiwan to open an office in Lithuania under its own name. Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory without the right to diplomatic recognition, although the island maintains informal ties with all major nations through trade offices that act as de facto embassies, including in the United States and Japan. Chinese pressure has reduced Taiwan’s formal diplomatic allies to just 15. Taiwan and Lithuania agreed last month that the office in the capital Vilnius - to open this fall - will bear the name of Taiwan rather than “Chinese Taipei,” the term used in other countries in order not to offend Beijing.