Beijing sanctions Lithuania for recognizing Taiwan, calling it a bad international precedent that is not welcome by the mainland government. Xi Jinping has many times stressed that other nations respect the One China policy or face the consequences.
Chinese diplomatic officials have severed ties with the Baltic State that its opinion is undermining the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China.
This is not the proper conduct for EU countries that will not foster good relations, especially with present issues in the Indo-Pacific.
China is not playing around
Beijing scathed the Lithuanians for allowing a Taiwanese consular office in Vilnius, the capital city, reprisals. As a result, the foreign ministry slapped a downgrade from diplomatic relation to a lesser charge d'affaires to teach the Eastern European nation a lesson, reported the Express UK.
One statement said that lowering its diplomatic standing is the penalty for an infraction that violates the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Adding the Lithuanian regime will suffer from the consequences for recognizing Taiwan.
It goes against the foreign ministry's efforts to remind other nations to keep away from Taipei as the mainland wants to keep it under its wing, cited Al Jazeera.
The One China policy is an integral part that all nations must abide and one government meets for China and Taiwan. Taiwan though it resists Beijing saying they are part of the Peoples Republic of China that might be drawn in again to the mainland fold. Though Lithuania is sanctioned by Beijing for recognizing Taiwan, it still is unfazed.
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The principle is an important part of Chinese diplomacy with the international community, which the government of Lithuania has not affirmed by dealing with Beijing. Its counterpart to China has expressed its misgiving over the decision to lower diplomatic relations.
In a statement, they said: "Lithuania reaffirms its adherence to the One China policy, but at the same time has the right to expand cooperation with Taiwan
Lithuania's good relations with Taiwan
A statement released indicates that the country agrees with the One China Policy, but can choose relations with Taiwan, noted the Taipei Times.
Ingrida Šimonytė, the Lithuanian prime minister, supports the decision to further relations with the Asian state. She added that her government wants to have more relations with the island enclave despite China's opposition, based on their core policy towards Taiwan. Šimonytė spoke further and remarked that choosing relations is not opposed to the One China policy.
A total number of 15 countries have recognized Taiwan as a country despite what the mainland government says. But, most states have diplomatic relations with China, although unofficially has a trade link with Taipei.
Taiwan's leader, Tsai Ing-Wen, has appealed to world leaders after the escalation of tensions in the face of China's push. Since 1949 the island has been separating when the nationalists lost the civil war against the communists.
The PLA, at the start of October, sent in numbers of planes in Taiwanese airspace and later said that the island would do what it must do to defend itself. Beijing sanctions Lithuania for recognizing Taiwan as a state that violates the One China policy; it makes it hard to deal with China.
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