Global Times reports from Baltic News Service (BNS) that Lithuanian Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene on Feb. 11 signaled openness to restore diplomatic relations with China and said that she would be prepared to consider renaming an office set by the Taiwan regional authority in her country. These remarks came less than 10 days after she admitted that Lithuania had made a strategic mistake by allowing a “Taiwanese representative office” to open in the capital Vilnius, under the name “Taiwanese.”
The Chinese experts said the move was in part due to the economic crisis throughout the EU, but also because there has been an “opening up” of European relations with China, including visits by several European heads of state.
Ruginiene’s Social Democrats led a coalition government in Vilnius. Criticizing the previous administration’s decision on naming the “Taiwanese representative office,” Ruginiene said, “it was a hasty step, which I think we could fix.” The process won’t involve “a five-minute decision,” she said, and will be discussed more broadly—including with “strategic partners,” according to Bloomberg.
