Taiwan has opened a de facto embassy in Lithuania in a diplomatic breakthrough for the self-ruled democratic island that China, which described the move as “egregious”, claims as its own territory.
Taipei announced on Thursday it had formally opened the office in the Baltic state – its first in Europe in 18 years – in defiance of a pressure campaign from Beijing.
Taiwan’s foreign ministry said the opening of the “Taiwan Representative Office in Lithuania” would “charter a new and promising course” for joint ties, noting the huge potential for cooperation, particularly in technology.
“Taiwan will cherish and promote this new friendship based on our shared values,” the ministry said.
In August, China demanded Lithuania withdraw its ambassador to Beijing and said it would recall China’s envoy in Vilnius after Taiwan announced the name for the office. Its outposts elsewhere in the world are usually called Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices, with China chafing at any use of the word Taiwan for fear it lends a sense of legitimacy to the island.
China responded angrily to Thursday’s opening and threatened unspecified consequences.
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