Lithuania expelled three staff members of China’s representative office in the country on Nov. 29, citing violations of international and Lithuanian law.
The Lithuania Foreign Ministry did not provide details of the violations but said the three non-accredited Chinese staff members had been
declared persona non grata for behavior that was incompatible with the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations and other principles and practices of both international and Lithuanian law.
The Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations is the
basis for international diplomatic relations, including diplomatic immunity, which the host nation can revoke if a state does not recall personnel declared persona non grata.
The office stated that it had proposed an interim solution to the Chinese side in accordance with the 1969 Convention on Special Missions.
Lithuania has had diplomatic clashes with Beijing in the past. In 2021, Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in the country, and in retaliation, the Chinese regime expelled the Lithuanian ambassador in China and withdrew its own ambassador from Lithuania.
Lithuania had called for open dialogue with Beijing before closing its embassy in December 2021 and pulling personnel from China.
Beijing then imposed sanctions against Lithuania and
blocked its exports in December 2021 and again in
2022 when a Lithuanian official visited Taiwan.
Lithuania was the
first country to leave a “17+1” bloc of Eastern European nations and China and had urged its neighbors to do the same.
The Chinese regime claims Taiwan is its territory, though it has never ruled the democratically governed island.
There have been
few cases of Chinese diplomats being expelled from Western nations, but there has been growing concern over Chinese espionage activities on foreign soil, which officials believe are tied to Chinese
consulates.
When a former top aide of New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was arrested and charged with spying for Beijing earlier this year, the governor said she had
requested the expulsion of the Chinese consul general in New York in retaliation. The consulate later said that the consul general’s term had already ended, and he left around the time of her request.
In the United States, Chinese Communist Party-backed espionage and threats have “expanded rapidly” in recent years, according to a congressional
report. Cases publicized by law enforcement generally involve trade secret theft, economic espionage, transnational repression, and obstruction of justice.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
