Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin Photo: VCG

Responding to a visit by a Lithuanian delegation to the island of Taiwan, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that China will act resolutely against egregious provocation of certain individuals in Lithuania to challenge the one-China principle and undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity , while urging Lithuania to stop acting as a pawn of Taiwan secessionists.

Following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's provocative visit to Taiwan, Lithuania on Sunday sent a delegation of 11 officials to the island of Taiwan for a five-day visit led by Deputy Transport and Communications Minister Agne Vaiciukevičiūtė. The visit came amid the international community's harsh criticism of Pelosi's irresponsible move and China's unprecedented large-scale military drills across the Taiwan Straits.

At Thursday's press briefing, Wang said that China strongly condemns Lithuania's anti-China forces for deliberately infringing on China's sovereignty and grossly interfering in China's domestic affairs.

The one-China principle is the basic norm of international relations and the political basis for the development of any bilateral ties between China and all countries, including Lithuania, he said. 

The joint communiqué signed between both sides as they established diplomatic relations clearly stated that the Lithuanian government recognizes the government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government representing the whole of China, and that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. Lithuania has also pledged not to establish official relations and conduct official contacts with the island, but it has repeatedly broken its promises, which is an outright breach of trust, the spokesperson said. 

China will act resolutely in response to the egregious provocation of certain individuals in Lithuania to challenge the one-China principle and undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity. We urge certain people in Lithuania to stop being the pawn of the "Taiwan independence" and anti-China forces and stop moving even further down the wrong path.  

As for how China would fight back against Lithuania's provocations, experts said it was more likely to be in the commerce and trade sectors, as diplomatic relations between two sides have already been downgraded. 

Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Thursday that the latest visit was led by a deputy minister, which apparently showed that Lithuania is "living on the edge" on the Taiwan question. 

"Our response is more about making a stance, warning the other side that China is highly concerned about the matter, and that we have recorded and will keep in mind their evil deeds," Cui said.

The delegation is the third in a series of deputy-ministerial visits to Taiwan by the Baltic state, after visits by Lithuania's Vice Minister of Economy and Innovation Jovita Neliupšienė on June 12, and Vice Minister of Agriculture Egidijus Giedraitis on June 22.