The Chinese mission in Vilnius has suspended the issuance of visas to Lithuanian citizens as of Wednesday, Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis has confirmed.
“We have been informed about this. No further information has been provided,” he told Lithuanian journalists in Kyiv on Thursday.
Landsbergis said he was unaware of the reasons for and the duration of the suspension.
The Chinese mission had last temporarily suspended the issuance of visas to Lithuanian citizens in late November 2021.
Beijing then said the move was due to technical reasons, but it came after China had officially downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania to the level of chargé d’affaires in response to the opening of the Taiwanese representative office in Vilnius.
In November last year, Landsbergis said that Lithuanian and Chinese officials were in talks about the possible normalisation of diplomatic relations.
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