MADRID 29 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Lithuanian Foreign Ministry has declared three diplomats from the Chinese mission in the country ‘persona non grata’ for violating the Vienna Convention in the context of tensions over the cutting of two submarine fiber optic cables in the Baltic Sea. an incident that is being investigated as a possible act of sabotage.
“Such a decision has been made taking into account the information provided by the responsible authorities and the incompatibility of the status and activities of unaccredited employees with the provisions reflected in the Vienna Convention, principles of International Law and Lithuanian law,” he said. said in a statement.
The Ministry has thus ordered that the diplomats leave the country “no later than within one week.” “Lithuania has always been and remains open to constructive dialogue to resolve bilateral issues by mutual agreement,” he added.
Although the Lithuanian authorities have not given further explanations about the expulsion of these three Chinese diplomats, the decision is part of the incident in the Baltic Sea in which a Chinese vessel could have been involved.
Several Baltic countries have warned of possible sabotage that could be linked to Russia. Finland and Sweden have opened investigations into what happened, while information collected by various media outlets suggests that the Chinese ship ‘Yi Peng 3’ had intentionally caused the damage when dropping anchor.
The Prime Minister of Lithuania, Gintautas Paluckas, was in favor last Friday of reactivating diplomatic relations with China after Taiwan opened a representative office in Vilnius three years ago, to which Beijing responded by cutting commercial ties.
That movement by Lithuania in 2021 motivated China to remove its ambassador from Vilnius and to take economic retaliation that led the European Union to raise the dispute before the World Trade Organization (WTO), which shows the difficult balance that Brussels maintains. with Beijing.
China then asked the Lithuanian government to reverse its recent advances to strengthen its relationship with Taiwan, a territory that has had an independent government since 1949, but that Beijing considers another province under its sovereignty.