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What Brussels denounces are the practices, deemed discriminatory, in Beijing. China has engaged in a diplomatic tussle with Lithuania since this Baltic state, a member of the EU, authorized Taiwan to open a trade representation office (and a “de facto” embassy) in its capital, Vilnius. However, Beijing considers Taiwan to be a rebellious province and obviously wants to punish Vilnius for its privileged relations with the island.
According to the European Commission, Beijing blocks Lithuanian goods at customs, rejects import applications from Lithuania and pressures companies from other EU member countries to remove Lithuanian components from their chains of supply for their exports to China.
► Read also : The quarrel with Beijing puts the industrialists of Lithuania under pressure
These practices harm exporters, both in Lithuania and in the rest of the single market, denounces the European executive, for whom they are contrary to WTO rules. But, for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the dispute is not commercial, but political.
Beijing has not digested the decision taken by Lithuania last August to host a trade representative office from Taiwan, and not from Taipei – named following the capital of the island – as it imposed the use. In retaliation, China recalled its ambassador from Vilnius and engaged in a standoff with the Lithuanian government. Since then, the Taiwan office opened on November 18 in Vilnius. It is the island’s first new diplomatic post in Europe for 18 years.
► Read also : Taiwan flies to the aid of Lithuania in the face of Chinese sanctions
