Taiwan opens Lithuania representative office using its own name

Taipei announced on Thursday it had formally opened a de facto embassy in Lithuania using the name Taiwan, a significant diplomatic departure that defied a pressure campaign by Beijing, reports AFP.

China tries to keep Taipei isolated on the world stage and baulks at any official use of the word “Taiwan”, lest it lend a sense of international legitimacy to the island, which Beijing claims as part of its territory and has vowed to one day seize, by force if needed.

“The Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania officially commences its operation in Vilnius on Nov 18, 2021,” the foreign ministry said, breaking with the island’s tradition of calling its representative outposts Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices.

Lithuania in July agreed to let democratic self-ruled Taiwan open a representative office using its name, the island’s first new diplomatic outpost in Europe in 18 years.

That move prompted a fierce rebuke by China which withdrew its ambassador to Lithuania and demanded Vilnius do the same, which it eventually did.

China also halted freight trains to Lithuania and stopped issuing food export permits.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry said the Lithuania office would be headed by Eric Huang, currently Taipei’s chief of mission in neighbouring Latvia.

“We are very happy that we have the opportunity to be a facilitator and promoter for the relations between Taiwan and Lithuania,” Huang told AFP.

On the significance of using the name Taiwan, he said it was “of course very meaningful”.

“We will not emphasise too much about the geopolitical context. As the representative office of my country, what I am focused on is to promote a substantive relationship.”

Only 15 countries officially recognise Taipei over Beijing.

But Taiwan maintains embassy equivalent representative offices with many nations and several countries have similar arrangements in Taipei.