Budrys will not confirm request to rename Taiwan office

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys confirmed that officials had discussed various aspects of relations with Taiwan but would not say whether they asked the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius to change its name, LRT reported.

Budrys was responding to a report by the news portal Delfi that the Foreign Ministry had given the office’s head, Constance H. Wang, an informal document urging a name change. “We talked about various aspects of our relations, maintaining the basis of constructive cooperation and making use of the full potential of our opportunities,” Budrys said in an LNK news report on Monday.

Delfi reported that the document was handed to Taiwanese representatives at a meeting on September 24 attended by Deputy Foreign Minister Vidmantas Verbickas and diplomat Ričardas Šlepavičius. It said the document argued that the office’s current name was hindering economic ties and urged Taiwan to change it by October 1.

According to the report, the proposals in return for a name change included signing a bilateral agreement on investment prospects, starting talks on an agreement to facilitate trade and avoid double taxation, and considering a Foreign Ministry post for a special envoy on Taiwan affairs.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius earlier urged people not to dramatise the situation, describing the discussions as routine diplomatic work and saying it was too early to consider changing the office’s name. President Gitanas Nausėda said the issue had prompted an unjustified wave of emotion and urged consideration of why Lithuania had not received the economic benefits it had expected from cooperation with Taiwan.

The office opened in 2021, when plans were announced to develop cooperation and attract major investment to Lithuania. The Ministry of Economy and Innovation says Taiwan’s direct investment flows into Lithuania have risen significantly since then, although the total remains modest.

The opening of the office sharply worsened relations between Vilnius and Beijing. China regards Taiwan as a province without the right to establish representative offices in countries with which China maintains official relations, and imposed strict diplomatic and economic sanctions on Lithuania over its decision.