Lithuania's Taiwan overtures create outsize challenge for China

Beijing treads carefully to avoid ripple effects on delicate relations with EU

20211206N lithuania taiwan REU

A delegation of lawmakers from Lithuania and two other Baltic nations met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen last month. © Reuters

TOMOYO OGAWA, TSUKASA HADANO and RINTARO HOSOKAWA, Nikkei staff writers

TOKYO/BEIJING/VIENNA -- China's already complicated relationship with Europe has been rattled by Lithuania, which provides a test of how strong Beijing's economic leverage is over countries that court Taiwan.

The opening of a Lithuanian representative office in Taiwan -- a de facto embassy -- has prompted a furious response from Beijing, but so far no severing of diplomatic ties with the Baltic nation.

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