China halts Lithuania beef, dairy and beer imports amid Taiwan row
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China has stopped buying beef, dairy products and beer from Lithuania, authorities say, as a row deepens over the Baltic state's ties with Taiwan.
China's General Administration of Customs suspended the exports citing a "lack of documentation", a Lithuanian agency said in a statement.
The move comes after Lithuania let Taiwan open a de facto embassy there.
It may bolster a European Union case against China alleging discriminatory practices towards a member state.
Lithuania's State Food and Veterinary Service said it has "so far not received any notification from China that any information or data is missing".
The agency said Chinese authorities had carried out a remote audit of Lithuanian beef and fish product exporters in 2020.
It added that there were no complaints, and exports continued to run smoothly until the end of last year.
No further details were provided on why sales stopped.
The foreign ministries of China and Taiwan did not immediately respond to requests for comment from the BBC.
China-Lithuania relations soured after Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open an embassy in its capital of Vilnius in November.
The embassy in Lithuania bears the name Taiwan rather than "Chinese Taipei", the name used by many foreign nations to avoid offending China.
However, China downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania days after.
While Taiwan is a self-governed democratic state, Beijing sees it as part of its territory. Beijing has stepped up pressure in the past year to isolate the island from its international allies.
The move could help to advance a European Union (EU) trade case against China, which was referred to the World Trade Organization in January.
The case - which has been backed by the UK, US, Australia and Canada - alleges "discriminatory trade practices" by China against Lithuania, which is a member of the EU.
These alleged practices included pressuring businesses in Europe to cut Lithuania from their supply chains.
Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU's executive vice president and commissioner for trade, said the case was necessary after "repeated failed attempts to resolve the issue bilaterally".
Although China is the world's largest importer of beef, it makes little of its purchases from Lithuania.
It imported 775 tonnes of the meat from Lithuania last year, out of a total 2.36m tonnes of beef imports, Chinese customs data shows.
Last month, Taiwan's government started sharing tips with the public on how to drink and cook with rum after it bought 20,000 bottles of Lithuanian rum bound for China.
State-run media said Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp purchased the rum after learning that it could be blocked from entering China.
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kt comments:
Very unusual for a country like Lithuania to establish diplomatic relations with Taiwan when the trend worldwide has been otherwise. Wonder whether she was under coercion from a 'biggie'.
And why protest against China's stopping in her purchase of Lithuania's beef, dairy products and beer? Just sell those to Taiwan lah.
Big Bully China...
ReplyDeleteJust a foretaste of how the world will be like, when in 10 years time, China becomes the world's No.1 Economic and No. 1 Military Power.
The code word is "Australia" - everybody knows -
Never Ever Offend China in the slightest way.
YOU WILL be SEVERELY PUNISHED.
why big bully? what punishment? china has a right to be careful about the products she purchases
DeleteYou are exactly the ones who jump up and down like monkeys when USA impose a ban on Xinjiang cotton products which they believe were made with coerced labour ( which USA have a right to be careful about the products she purchases)
DeleteUSA banned Chinese products on flimsy excuses without substantiation. China did not ban Lithuania's products but rather stopped buying (not banned) because of incorrect documentations - no doubt a fib but one which can be overturn or withdrawn in the near future. Lithuania is just a wee ikan bilis in the global, scheme of things and I doubt China will prolong such measures
DeleteThis is like the Bullshit arguing how many angels can dance on a the head of the Pin.
DeleteWhen an authoritarian country like China "stops buying" or quietly orders private companies to buy their goods elsewhere, what is the difference from "banning" ?
Like other Big Bullies, China picks on small fry like Lithuania and Australia to punish them.
Mfer, u have conveniently ignored the causality of these events u faryed about!
DeleteWho r the initiators?
A bully exercises his/her threats w/o any reasonable causes. Just a simple presence of a face would be ground for abusive attacks.
China didn't even bother with these two Yankee puppies until they howl & bite with ferocity - under the assumption that their master would protect them!
US has not lift a hand to help Lithuania except verbal diarrhea. Similarly some of the Oz usual exports to China r been conveniently taken over by the Yank!
U want to know the gimmicky exercising of 'banning'? Look no further than the strong-arm twistings, all-over the world, in restricting the sales of CPU chips to China!