Photo: Chinese Foreign Ministry

China strongly condemns and firmly rejects the wanton and provocative action that Lithuania's Foreign Ministry, without any reason, declared relevant diplomatic personnel of the Office of the Chargé d'Affaires of China in Lithuania "persona non grata" and demanded that they leave the country within the time required, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday. 

As many are aware, on issues concerning China's Taiwan region, Lithuania has been acting in serious violation of the one-China principle and breached the political commitment Lithuania made in the communiqué on the establishment of China-Lithuania diplomatic relations, according to the spokesperson of the ministry. 

This has caused severe difficulty for bilateral ties. Three years on since the downgrade of bilateral ties with China, Lithuania has again taken detrimental action that further exacerbates relations. 

China calls on Lithuania to immediately stop undermining China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stop creating difficulty for bilateral relations. China reserves the right to take countermeasures against Lithuania. 

We hope the upcoming new government of Lithuania will follow the prevailing international consensus, abide by the one-China principle, and foster conditions for the normalization of China-Lithuania relations, according to the spokesperson.

Relations between China and Lithuania soured after the Baltic state allowed the island of Taiwan to open its so-called representative office in Lithuania in 2021, which China called a blatant violation of the one-China principle and international rules. China later downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania to the level of chargé d'affaires. 

Lithuania's incoming prime minister Gintautas Paluckas said he's open to restoring diplomatic relations with China three years after a trade dispute led to Beijing downgrading its ties with the Baltic nation, according to a Bloomberg report.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Monday at a regular press briefing that China also noted that Lithuania will soon form its new government, and multiple Lithuanian political figures have expressed a desire to improve ties with China.

China hopes that the new government of Lithuania will take action to abide by the political commitment that Lithuania made in the communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Lithuania, uphold the one-China principle and bring bilateral ties back to the right track, said Lin. 

Paluckas said in October his government would seek to restore full diplomatic relations with China, according to Lithuanian media LRT. 

Paluckas said Lithuania made a "grave diplomatic mistake" by allowing the island of Taiwan to open a "Taiwanese-named" representative office in Vilnius, according to LRT. 

The Lithuanian caretaker government continues to adopt a tough stance due to domestic political pressures and factors related to its relationships with the European Union and the US, Sun Xiuwen, an associate professor at the Institute for Central Asian Studies at Lanzhou University told the Global Times.

This caretaker government, which is about to be replaced, might be motivated by the need to demonstrate to domestic voters and Western allies its hardline position towards China, thereby maintaining a certain level of consistency with EU and US policies, she added.

From the perspective of domestic politics, a caretaker government is typically regarded as a transitional government with its main responsibility is to maintain daily administrative functions rather than to promote significant policy changes, however, this decision also leaves room for the new government to restore diplomatic relations with China, said Sun. 

In recent years, Lithuania has already felt the pain from the consequences of its soured relationship with China, thus some Lithuanian politicians have voiced a desire to repair the relationship with China, Wang Yiwei, a professor at China's Renmin University in Beijing, told the Global Times.

However, Wang noted that there are also political forces within Lithuania, influenced by certain foreign forces, that are trying to prevent Lithuania from getting closer with China. Under these circumstances, the caretaker government has created troubles to obstruct the improvement of relations between China and Lithuania. 

A new study shows that the general public would prefer friendly and pragmatic ties with Beijing, Lithuanian National Radio and Television reported in February this year.

A poll in February showed that 47.6 percent of respondents in Lithuania agreed that China is a profitable market and that Lithuania should be pragmatic and refrain from criticizing it, while 21 percent disagreed and 31.5 percent were neutral or undecided, LRT said.