The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Friday (November 29) that three staff members of the Chinese Embassy in Lithuania have been deemed “personae non gratae” and have been issued expulsion orders.
The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs cited violations of the Vienna Convention and Lithuanian laws as the reasons, but did not provide further details. In a statement, the ministry stated that the three Chinese Embassy staff members have been instructed to leave Lithuania within a week.
In March of this year, the head of Lithuania’s counterintelligence agency stated that due to support from EU and NATO members for Taiwan, it is not ruled out that China could intervene in this year’s elections.
Furthermore, a Chinese vessel has recently been suspected of involvement in damaging two undersea cables in the Baltic Sea, one of which connects Sweden and Lithuania.
After Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a representative office locally in 2021, the Chinese authorities have downgraded their relations with Lithuania, unilaterally converting the embassy to a representative office and pressuring multinational companies to cut ties with this Baltic country with a population of 2.9 million.