Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.Figure: Recap LithuaniaMFA Twitter
Archyde.com reported on the 25th that in order to reduce tensions with China, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis had considered asking Taiwan to change the “Chinese” name of the representative office in Lithuania. Lance Burgess reiterated in a joint interview with reporters in Congress on the 26th that he had no intention or plan to change the name of the Taiwan representative office. He said: “I said it before.”
Lance Burgess recently met with President Gitanas Nausėda to discuss foreign policy. The outside world was concerned about whether Nausėda’s attitude prompted him to plan to change the name of the representative office in Taiwan, which is why Archyde.com reported that Lance Burgess. Sri Lanka refuted and pointed out that what he discussed with Nauseda was how to effectively deal with China’s illegal actions against Lithuania, reduce various risks internally, and build consensus and support from the EU externally.
On the grounds that the use of the word “Taiwan” in the name of our representative office “injures China’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity”, China has continued to exert strong pressure on Lithuania’s diplomacy and economy, and even asked European companies to exclude Lithuania from their supply chains. The Archyde.com report quoted two sources as saying that in order to ease tensions with China, Lansburgh proposed to Nauseda last week to change the Chinese name of the “Taiwan Representative Office” to reflect the English name Taiwanese. Literally “Taiwanese”, subject to Taiwan’s consent.
According to the Central News Agency, three people familiar with the Lithuanian diplomatic circle pointed out that the report was untrue. One of the Lithuanian diplomats revealed that the possibility of adding the word “ren” to the Chinese name of the Taiwan representative office had been discussed internally in the past, but this plan, which could be called “the bottom line of the Lithuanian government”, was later scrapped. It doesn’t help either.” The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs also stated earlier this month that the Lithuanian government welcomes the establishment of a “Taiwan Representative Office” by Taiwan, a decision that is “firm”.
Although some people in Lithuania strongly advocate changing the name of the representative office from “Taiwan” to “Taipei”, which is commonly used in various countries, in order to effectively improve the relationship between Lithuania and China, the CCP’s official media “Global Times” published on the 22nd. One comment bluntly stated that even if Lithuania changed the name of its representative office in Taiwan, Lithuania-China relations “won’t return to normal.”
The Central News Agency quoted Song Wendi, a researcher at the Australian National University’s Center for Chinese Global Studies (CIW), as analyzing that even if Lithuania backs down, Beijing “will not soften” at least in a short period of time, otherwise “it will be like a breach in the resistance.” If the message of the CCP’s actions is that “what you know can be corrected” can “resolve the past suspicions”, it will be equivalent to encouraging other countries to “support Taiwan”.
Song Wendi continued to point out that if Beijing were so easy to appease, “supporting Taiwan” would probably change from a “big blatant” quasi-red line issue to a good business that could “guarantee its capital” no matter what. If countries try to “support Taiwan” and successfully withstand Beijing’s pressure , you will be able to score points in the Western liberal and democratic camp led by the United States; if you can’t stand it, as long as you “correct the mistakes”, you can hope that Beijing will “relieve the past”. Can score in front of Taiwan, but Beijing “isn’t that stupid”.