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In diplomatic U-turn, Vilnius rues Taiwan de facto embassy row with Beijing
Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene says the world did not ‘appreciate’ her country’s decision and Lithuania should put its own interests first
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Vanessa Caiin Shanghai
Lithuania “jumped in front of the train and lost” on its decision over Taipei’s de facto embassy, the country’s prime minister said, as Vilnius became the latest European capital to seek to recalibrate ties with Beijing.
In an interview with the Baltic News Service on Tuesday, Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said Vilnius made a mistake in allowing the opening of a Taiwanese representative office in the capital in 2021.
The move enraged Beijing, which saw the use of “Taiwanese” – rather than Taipei – in the office’s name as a breach of its one-China principle.
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“I believe that Lithuania really jumped in front of the train and lost,” Ruginiene was quoted as saying.
“It was probably a huge mistake on Lithuania’s part to think that if we offered something ourselves and were the first to do something, the world would suddenly appreciate it. Well, we tried in this case, we have the Taiwanese representative office, but the world did not appreciate it, no one appreciated it.”
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The decision prompted Beijing to recall its ambassador to Vilnius in August 2021, a first for Beijing since the European Union was established in 1993.
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