Opposition seeks urgent hearing over reported Taiwan office request

Lithuania’s opposition has asked the Seimas Foreign Affairs Committee to hold an extraordinary meeting on relations with China and Taiwan after a report that the Foreign Ministry sought a name change for Taiwan’s representative office in Vilnius. LRT reported the request on Monday.

Conservative MP Žygimantas Pavilionis, the committee’s deputy chair, said he wanted Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys to explain why MPs had not been told about pressure on Taiwan. He said the reported request appeared to have been a central part of negotiations from the outset and that the news had shocked him.

The report, published by Delfi on Monday, said the ministry had asked the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius in September to change its name. In return, it reportedly offered several bilateral economic agreements and a special envoy for Taiwan within the ministry.

Committee chair Remigijus Motuzas supported holding a meeting and said he would coordinate its timing with the ministry’s leadership.

Budrys said the information had been presented inaccurately and declined to comment on its details. He confirmed that Lithuania had discussed various aspects of its relations with Taiwan.

BNS reported last week that Chinese diplomats were expected to visit Lithuania on November 11 and 12 to meet Foreign Ministry officials and a group of MPs seeking to normalise relations with Beijing. MP Ignas Vėgėlė had informed BNS about the planned visit.

Lithuania’s relations with China deteriorated in autumn 2021, when the Taiwanese Representative Office opened in Vilnius. China responded by downgrading its diplomatic representation in Lithuania from ambassador to chargé d’affaires. Lithuania later refused to issue new accreditations to Chinese diplomats, and no Chinese diplomats have been in the country since May last year.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius has previously said he hopes for a breakthrough in talks with China by the end of the year. Restoring diplomatic representation is included in his government’s programme.