Lithuania has agreed to allow China to open a chargé d’affaires office in the country, Remigijus Motuzas, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the Lithuanian parliament, the Seimas, revealed, BNS reports. Speaking in an interview with Ziniu Radijas, Motuzas said that the move was a “slight bow” to China and that business was “very happy” about the decision. Earlier, Lithuania had refused China’s request to open such an office after China downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania following a dispute over Taiwan. China has had no diplomats in Lithuania since May 2025. Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene and Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said that talks were under way with China on restoring full diplomatic relations.
In the meantime, Lithuania’s Foreign Ministry announced that it had suspended negotiations on economic cooperation with Taiwan, BNS reports. The ministry said that the move was due to the ongoing process of forming a new coalition government in Lithuania. Talks are expected to resume after the incoming government takes office, however. Meanwhile, a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry urged Lithuania to “take swift and decisive action” to “correct past mistakes” and return to the so-called One China principle so as to create conditions for the normalisation of diplomatic relations, BNS reported. China’s state-run Global Times demanded that Lithuania rename the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius.
President Gitanas Nauseda said that the question of Budrys staying on as foreign minister depended on progress in normalising relations with China and on commitments with Taiwan, BNS reported. At the same time, Nauseda defended Budrys, his former national security adviser, from criticism on other issues. Nauseda insisted that he and Budrys had not diverged on any fundamental point of Lithuanian foreign policy. However, Remigijus Motuzas, MP of the ruling Lithuanian Social Democratic Party, said that Budrys was unlikely to remain foreign minister when Lithuania assumes the EU presidency in the first half of 2027, ELTA reported. Budrys could be replaced by Deividas Matulionis, senior adviser to Nauseda.