Vilnius has turned to partners for help in providing consular services in China after Beijing continued ignoring proposals to restore normal diplomatic representation, according to officials.
"We still have no reply, but we understand that the main obstacle [...] is the name of the Taiwanese representative office," Remigijus Motuzas, chairman of the parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs, told reporters Wednesday.
The MP said the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has approached other countries for help providing consular services to Lithuanian citizens in China.
"Work is underway at the technical level on diplomatic representation, but what is new is that the Foreign Ministry has stepped up its efforts by reaching out to some foreign states to serve our citizens in consular matters, such as visa issuance or consular assistance, because this is needed both by Lithuanian citizens and by Chinese citizens," he said.
Motuzas also said that Lithuania will inevitably have to return to the issue of normalising relations with Beijing because of China's economic weight and pressure from Lithuanian businesses that want to invite Chinese companies but cannot do so due to the lack of diplomatic representation.
According to the committee chairman, consular assistance is also needed for two Lithuanian citizens serving prison sentences in China.
Relations between Lithuania and China nosedived in 2021 after Vilnius began forging closer ties with Taiwan and allowed it to open its representative office with the word “Taiwanese,” rather than “Taipei,” in its name.
Vilnius and Beijing have yet to find a way to restore diplomatic representation in both countries.
In June, then-Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said Lithuania had submitted a proposal to China on normalising representation but did not provide details.
He said, however, that the proposal did not include changing the name of the Taiwanese Representative Office. This was later confirmed by his successor, Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė.
She told BNS in September that she would press China to provide a reply.
The programme of the government led by Ruginienė softened the rhetoric toward China and declared an intention to normalise diplomatic representation with the country.
The parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs also discussed the implementation of Lithuania's Indo-Pacific strategy behind closed doors.
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