China should stop punishing Lithuania, French President Emmanuel Macron told Chinese President Xi Jinping in a call on Wednesday, Politico has reported.
Beijing has imposed unannounced economic sanctions on Lithuania and a de facto embargo on the country’s imports after Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open a representative office under its name last year.
“[Macron] encouraged China to lift sanctions against Lithuania and address China’s demands through dialogue,” the French statement said.
According to Politico, the French president’s call on Xi to resolve tensions with Lithuania through diplomatic measures was “the highest-profile intervention about the spat to date”.
The European Union has also launched a World Trade Organisation case over China’s “discriminatory trade practices” against Lithuania. The US, UK, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Taiwan have joined the case as well.
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