Taiwanese Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung on Thursday said his government does not oppose the incoming Lithuanian government restoring relations with China, Focus Taiwan has reported.
Gintautas Paluckas, the Social Democratic party’s candidate for prime minister, said last week that his government would seek to restore full diplomatic relations with China but would not be willing to make excessive concessions.
The rift between Lithuania and China began in 2021 following the inclusion of “Taiwanese” in the name of Taiwan’s representative office in Vilnius. In response, Beijing downgraded diplomatic ties with Vilnius and imposed trade restrictions.
Asked by Taiwanese legislators to comment on whether the Taipei office name could be changed by the incoming Lithuanian government, Lin said it was agreed upon by both governments.
Bilateral discussions will be needed if either side wishes to amend the decision, he added.
“We do not oppose Lithuania’s desire to normalise relations with China, but doing so does not mean the Baltic state cannot maintain its relationship with Taiwan,” he said.
Taiwan-China-Lithuania trilateral relations are not a zero-sum game, he said, adding that Lithuania, as a sovereign state, can choose to engage with China and Taiwan as it wishes.
Paluckas said Lithuania made a “grave diplomatic mistake” by allowing Taiwan to open a Taiwanese-named representative office in Vilnius. However, he refrained from saying whether he would ask Taipei to change the name if Beijing demanded it.
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Lithuania’s outgoing Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonyte said on Thursday that only Taiwan itself can decide whether to rename its representative office in Vilnius.
“You have to understand that the Taiwanese themselves chose the name, so the question here is whether they’re ready to rename their office or whether some other decisions would follow,” she told the Žiniu Radijas radio.
“It’s not as straightforward as some may imagine,” she added.
On Wednesday, Šimonytė called proposals to restore diplomatic relations with China “unwise”.
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