(TibetanReview.net, Nov30’24) –Lithuania has on Nov 29 asked three staff members of China’s representative office, a type of diplomatic mission, to leave the country for being in violation of the Vienna Convention and Lithuanian legislation. No further details were provided.
China has already downgraded ties with Lithuania and pressured multinationals to sever links with the Baltic nation of 2.9 million people after it allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy there in 2021, noted Reuters Nov 29.
Declaring them as personae non gratae, Lithuania’s foreign ministry has cited violations of the 1961 Vienna Convention, which outlines the rules of diplomatic law.
The Chinese diplomatic staff have been instructed to leave Lithuania within a week, the ministry has said in a statement, exacerbating sour relations between the two countries.
The latest development apparently had its beginning in March, when the chief of Lithuania’s counter-intelligence said Chinese interference in this year’s elections could not be ruled out due to the EU and NATO member’s support for Taiwan.
In addition, a Chinese ship is suspected of being involved in damage to two undersea cables recently, one of which runs between Sweden and Lithuania, the report noted.