Lithuania–Taiwan relations

For relations between Lithuania and the People's Republic of China, see China–Lithuania relations.

Lithuania–Taiwan relations

Taiwan	Lithuania

The Beiyang-controlled Republic of China (ROC) established diplomatic relations with Lithuania in 1921, three years after its independence from Russia, which continued until the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states in 1940. In 1949, the People's Republic of China (PRC) was established and the island of Taiwan became the main territory administered by the ROC, which is now commonly known as Taiwan. After Lithuania's independence in 1990, it decided to instead establish relations with the People's Republic of China.

In the absence of official diplomatic relations, since 2021 Taiwan is represented by the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania, which handles economic and cultural relations as well as consular matters. As of 2021, Lithuania is establishing a trade office in Taiwan.

History

During the Interwar Period, both Lithuania and the Republic of China (ROC) were relatively new countries, with Lithuania having declared independence in 1918 and the ROC having recently overthrown the Qing dynasty in 1912; during this time, Taiwan was a Japanese colony (ceded by the Qing empire in 1895). Lithuania and the ROC established diplomatic relations in 1921, continuing until Lithuania's annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940 during World War II. During the Soviet occupation, which the ROC (nor the PRC) did not de jure recognize, relations were de facto nonexistent. After World War II in 1945, the ROC took control of Taiwan from the Japanese, and in 1949 the ROC lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan. Over the years most countries switched recognition from the ROC to the PRC.

Following the Lithuanian restoration of independence in 1990, the Republic of Lithuania decided to establish diplomatic relations with China (PRC) instead of Taiwan (ROC). Lithuania and Taiwan did not have much exchange throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with Taiwan's main partner in the Baltic states being Latvia.

Since 2020, Lithuania-Taiwan relations have rapidly warmed, and in April of that year 200 Lithuanian politicians and public figures petitioned the President of Lithuania to support Taiwan's membership in the World Health Organization. These calls were reiterated by the then-foreign minister, Linas Linkevičius, in a direct phone call with the head of the WHO. On 19 June 2020, Taiwanese representative to the Baltic states Andy Chin spoke in the Seimas at the invitation of the opposition Homeland Union, inviting objection from China and marking the highest platform any Taiwanese official had achieved in the Baltic states.

Lithuania's Freedom Party has a clause supporting full recognition of the independence of Taiwan (ROC), and in the 2020 Lithuanian parliamentary election, parties sympathetic to Taiwan such as the Homeland Union and Freedom Party entered government and formed a coalition. In 2021, the Lithuania-Taiwan Forum was established by over 50 Lithuanian political figures, most notably Mantas Adomėnas and Gintaras Steponavičius, and it was announced that Lithuania would open a trade office in Taiwan.

In October 2021, Lithuania's parliament passed a legislative revision that gave the green light to the country to open a representative office in Taiwan. On 18 November 2021, Taiwan opened its de-facto embassy, the Taiwanese Representative Office, in Vilnius. Beijing recalled their ambassador from Vilnius and asked the Lithuanian ambassador in Beijing to leave.

Trade and cultural cooperation

Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania

In 2020, Lithuania exported $37.8 million (USD) to Taiwan or 0.07%, and imported $97.3 million, or 0.23%. Lithuanian exports were predominantly tobacco, chemicals, furniture and wood, while Taiwanese exports were mainly in the tech and machinery sector.

In September 2021, Taiwan announced that Lithuania has suddenly become a top-10 destination for Taiwanese credit card spending worldwide in the first half of 2021, with 112,000 transactions spending EUR76m (roughly 2x Lithuania's annual exports to Taiwan); however a Lithuanian media investigation found no evidence of any significant Taiwanese spending in Lithuania via e-commerce or otherwise; the Bank of Lithuania observed an increase of 56% of Lithuania-Taiwan financial transactions from the period from the previous year but could not explain their source due to lack of data.

Taipei and Vilnius established sister city status on 28 May 1998.

Aid

Taiwan donated 100,000 face masks to Lithuania early during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Lithuania donated 20,000 and then a further 235,900 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine to Taiwan. Taiwanese food giant I-Mei Foods donated over 21,000 of its signature puff cookies to Lithuania in gratitude.

See also

• Foreign relations of Lithuania
• Foreign relations of Taiwan
• Government of the Republic of China
• Latvia–Taiwan relations
• China–Lithuania relations