(ECNS) -- China’s door remains open to dialogue and hopes that Lithuania will return to the right path of upholding the one-China principle before seeking for restoring ties with China, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday at a regular press conference.
The spokesperson made the comments in response to recent remarks by Gintautas Paluckas, the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party’s candidate for prime minister, who expressed willingness to repair ties with China.
“As is widely known, Lithuania’s wrongful acts on issues concerning Taiwan are the root cause of the fraught relations between China and Lithuania,” said Mao.
China hopes Lithuania will abide by the political commitments in the communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations between both countries and accumulate enabling conditions for the normalization of bilateral relations, the spokesperson added.
China-Lithuania relations deteriorated in 2021. Lithuania allowed the Taiwan authorities to set up a "Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania" on November 18, 2021, ignoring China's strong protest and repeated representations.
China then announced a downgrade of diplomatic relations with Lithuania to the level of charge d'affaires as a response.
Paluckas supported ties repair by returning envoys to both capitals, but stressed that his administration won’t reverse current policies that include maintaining trade links with Taiwan.
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