Taiwan rules out renaming its office in Vilnius

Taiwan has no plans to change the name of its representative office in Vilnius, the island’s foreign ministry said Tuesday, adding that media reports on the issue harm relations with Lithuania, LRT reported.

“There are currently no plans to change the name,” Deputy Foreign Minister Chen Ming-chi told reporters in Taipei. He was responding to a report by Delfi on Monday that Lithuania had asked the office in September to change its name as it seeks to restore diplomatic representation with China.

Chen said he would not comment on rumours, particularly speculation based on false information, because it could damage ties between Lithuania and Taiwan. He did not directly say whether he considered the Delfi report false, but said media reports are not necessarily accurate.

Chen said the two sides were strengthening ties based on mutual benefit and shared values, and had jointly agreed to establish representative offices, including the decision on the Vilnius office’s name.

Taiwanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei said the two governments had continued to promote cooperation in trade and investment, industry and technology, education and culture, and humanitarian assistance. He said the work was guided by mutual respect, openness, transparency and mutual benefit, and had delivered concrete results.

Hsiao also said Taiwan and Lithuania were cooperating to help Ukraine. He called on democratic partners to support one another and jointly face pressure and challenges from authoritarian countries.

Lithuania’s president said Monday that discussions with Taiwan about changing the office’s name had been coordinated with him. Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry made the proposal to Taiwan.

Chinese diplomats are expected to visit Lithuania this week and plan to meet Foreign Ministry representatives and a group of members of parliament seeking to normalise relations with Beijing, BNS reported.

Lithuania-China relations deteriorated in autumn 2021 after the Taiwanese Representative Office opened in Vilnius. Similar offices in other countries operate under the name Taipei. China strongly opposes what it sees as expressions of Taiwanese statehood and unilaterally downgraded its diplomatic representation in Lithuania. Lithuania later declined to issue new accreditation to Chinese diplomats, and no Chinese diplomats have been in the country since May last year.

Prime Minister Mindaugas Sinkevičius has said he hopes to make progress in talks with China by the end of the year. His government has included restoring diplomatic representation in its programme. An October review by the Ministry of the Economy and Innovation found that opening the Taiwanese Representative Office had not brought a significant increase in Lithuanian goods exports to Taiwan.