BEIJING—China has suspended imports of beef from Lithuania since Wednesday, the General Administration of Customs said, amid a growing trade spat with the Baltic nation and its Western allies that is centered on Chinese-claimed Taiwan.
Customs did not give a reason for the suspension.
The agency typically halts import of meat if the exporting nation reports an outbreak of disease in its livestock. Lithuania has not reported any animal disease to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recently.
The move comes, however, after Britain said on Monday it will join the United States and Australia in backing an EU trade case against China at the World Trade Organization over Beijing’s alleged trade curbs on Lithuania.
The European Commission says Lithuanian exports to China fell 91 percent in December compared to the same month in 2020.
Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in its capital Vilnius last year, angering Beijing as it regards the self-governed island as its own territory.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, declined to elaborate on the beef suspension, but said Lithuania should correct its mistakes.
“What Lithuania should do is face up to facts, redress its own mistakes, and come back to the right track of adhering to the one China principle, instead of confusing right with wrong,” Zhao said, referring to China’s demand that countries recognize that Taiwan belongs to it.
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry condemned the latest Chinese move, which it called “unilateral” and “bullying,” and the latest example of Beijing trying to change Lithuania’s foreign policy.
“We firmly stand together with Lithuania,” ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou told reporters.
China is the world’s top importer of beef but shipments from Lithuania are minimal. China imported just 775 tonnes of beef from Lithuania in 2021, out of a total 2.36 million tonnes of beef imports that year, according to Chinese customs data.
Taiwan has stepped up its food imports from Lithuania to help ease the impact of Beijing’s curb on beef, most recently including rum.
The first batch of 1,200 bottles sold out in less than an hour after they were put on sale this month.
