Lithuania’s Social Democrat Prime Minister-designate Gintautas Paluckas says he was not informed about the decision to expel three employees of China’s diplomatic mission from Lithuania.
“These are decisions of the outgoing government, and they could comment on why and what they are doing and under what circumstances,” Paluckas told reporters at the Seimas on Tuesday.
“I was certainly not informed about it, and I was not informed about the circumstances,” he added.
According to the prime minister-designate, the consequences of this decision remain to be seen.
“I don’t know whether we can further severe those diplomatic relations [with China] that are already practically non-existent,” Paluckas said.
The Foreign Ministry said on Friday that three Chinese representatives were declared persona non grata for activities that violate the Vienna Convention and Lithuanian legislation. The employees concerned must leave Lithuania within one week.
According to the ministry, it has also offered an interim solution to the Chinese side to ensure the continuity of the diplomatic mission’s basic consular, visa, and administrative functions in accordance with the provisions of the Convention on Special Missions.
The ministry did not comment on the specific actions that led to this decision. Remigijus Motuzas, chairman of the Seimas Committee on Foreign Affairs, told the Elta news agency that the Chinese mission employees in question “did not have their accreditations sorted out” and were therefore expelled.
China has warned that this decision could lead to certain retaliatory measures against Lithuania.
Lithuania’s relations with China soured in 2021 after the opening of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius. In response, Beijing downgraded diplomatic ties with Vilnius and imposed trade restrictions.
Recently, President Gitanas Nausėda and Paluckas have proposed normalising relations with China.
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