<strong>Taiwan is not alone</strong>
Taiwan opened a representative office, a de facto embassy, in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius on Nov. 18. It is the nation’s first new diplomatic mission in Europe in 18 years. More significantly, the office bears the name “Taiwan” instead of “Taipei” a move that has come despite pressure from the People’s Republic of China, which claims that Taiwan is part of its territory.
China officially downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania a few days after protesting in vain over the opening.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) was asked at a news conference