Lithuania urged to correct its 'mistaken decision'

The Chinese government has decided to recall its ambassador to Lithuania and demanded that the Baltic state's government recall its top envoy in China, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Tuesday.

The announcement came after the Lithuanian government decided to allow the Taiwan authorities to open a so-called representative office under the name of "Taiwan "despite China's repeated representations and articulation of potential consequences.

Lithuania established diplomatic ties with China in 1991.

In remarks released on the ministry's website, the spokesperson expressed the Chinese government's categorical opposition to the move, saying that the decision "brazenly violates the spirit of the communique on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Lithuania and severely undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity".

"We urge the Lithuanian side to immediately rectify its mistaken decision, take concrete measures to undo the damage, and not to move further down the wrong path," the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory, and also warned the Taiwan authorities that "Taiwan independence" is a dead end and any attempt at separatist activities in the international arena is doomed to fail.

The spokesperson warned the Lithuanian side that there is only one China in the world and the People's Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.

The Chinese government and people have an unswerving determination to achieve the reunification of the country, the spokesperson said, noting that the red line of safeguarding national sovereignty and territorial integrity shall not be crossed.

It is China's consistent position that it firmly opposes any official exchanges and the mutual establishment of so-called "representative offices" between Taiwan and countries with diplomatic relations with China.

In 1995, China recalled its ambassador to the United States after Washington permitted former Taiwan leader Lee Teng-hui to pay a visit to the US.

Also on Tuesday, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, sternly warned the Democratic Progressive Party authority in Taiwan that it would only become the victim of its own evil deeds by colluding with external forces in an attempt to seek "Taiwan independence".

In a signed article published in Lithuanian media on Saturday, Shen Zhifei, China's ambassador to the country, said it is regrettable that the Lithuanian government has brazenly violated the one-China principle and norms governing international relations on Taiwan-related, despite the good momentum of China-Lithuania relations and cooperation over the past 30 years.