“The position of the president regarding the Taiwanese representation has not changed. The president believes that the name of the Taiwanese representative office in Lithuania should sound the same in all languages, including Mandarin,” said presidential adviser Ridas Jasiulionis in a comment sent to Elta.
When asked if he would suggest changing the name of the Taiwanese representative office, G. Nausėda, who is seeking a second term as president, told the BNS news agency that the representative office is currently named after an unconventional name. According to him, in accordance with the “One China Policy”, naming Taipei would be in line with normal international practice. He also noticed that the translation of the representative office’s name in English and Chinese did not match.
“Positively assessing the establishment of such a representative office in Lithuania in principle, in the context of stabilizing relations with China, I would see the need to change the name of the representative office,” G. Nausėda told BNS.
Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated on Wednesday that the current name of the representative office in Vilnius is a bilateral consensus and a carefully considered decision. The ministry noted that it respects the opinions expressed during the presidential election, but hopes that both countries can further strengthen their democratic partnership.
After Lithuania allowed the Taiwanese representation to operate in the country, relations between Vilnius and Beijing worsened. At the end of 2021, China applied strict diplomatic and economic sanctions. In addition, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs officially changed the level of diplomatic relations with Lithuania – from ambassador to chargé d’affaires.
Tensions existed in bilateral relations before – after Lithuania withdrew from the “17+1” cooperation format with China. At that time, the country’s head of diplomacy, Gabrielius Landsbergis, urged other European Union countries to follow Lithuania’s example. However, only neighboring Estonia and Latvia followed the example of Vilnius.
