Taiwan has joined the European Union (EU) in its case against China at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over its unfair trade practices against Lithuania, its foreign ministry said yesterday.
“China’s economic coercion has violated international economic and trade norms and should not be tolerated. Our country will cooperate with like-minded partners such as Lithuania and the European Union to maintain a rules-based international trading system,” Taiwanese foreign ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou told reporters.
Earlier this month, China suspended all imports of beef, dairy products, and beer from Lithuania as their row deepens over Taiwan. China has also halted rail freight to the European nation and suspended the trading licenses of Lithuanian producers over the last few months.
In response to Chinese pressure, the Baltic state’s foreign minister has repeatedly urged Europe to stand up against China’s economic coercion and adapt to the short-term economic disadvantages dealt by Beijing.
New: UK and Canada officially file to join the EU's WTO consultations with China over Lithuania coercion case.
— Finbarr Bermingham (@fbermingham) February 14, 2022
UK with a fairly short boiler plate statement about trade disruption.
Canada, which has some experience with Chinese trade embargoes, with a more substantial note. pic.twitter.com/pkfUANCla8
Following intense lobbying by the EU member, the bloc filed a case against Beijing in the WTO in January, after completing its own investigation into China’s economic coercion. The EU claims that it has evidence of China’ refusing to clear Lithuanian goods through customs, rejecting import applications, and pressuring companies operating from other EU member states to eliminate Lithuanian inputs from their supply chains when exporting to China.
Canada, France, Japan, Britain, Australia, and the United States have also backed the EU’s case at the Geneva-based trade body. WTO rules allow China to block any non-EU countries from joining the consultations before an arbitration panel is set up.
Tensions between Lithuania and China began last November, when Taiwan opened a representative office in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius. It is the self-governing island’s first de facto embassy in Europe. Elsewhere in Europe and North America, Taiwan’s international offices use the name Taipei Economic and Cultural Offices to avoid conflict with China, which claims Taiwan as part of its own territory.
The news was met with strong criticism from China, which escalated the conflict by officially downgrading ties with Lithuania to the level of chargé d’affaires, which is a level below ambassador. In December, Lithuania was prompted to recall its remaining diplomats from China amid worsening relations.
“If your government really wants to ease the tension, the first step is to change the name in all languages from ‘Taiwanese’ back to ‘Taipei.’ That’s the first and very important thing,” Qu Baihua, China’s acting chargé d’affaires in Lithuania, said in an interview earlier this week.