China on Sunday reduced its official relationship with Lithuania to the ambassador after Taiwan, the island democracy that Beijing claimed as part of its own territory, was permitted to open a representative office in Bangtic Nation.
Beijing previously expelled the Lithuanian ambassador and attracted his own envoy to the country.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Sunday relations will be deployed to the D’Affaires level, an official of the Embassy No.
2.
The Chinese reaction underlines its sensitivity about the claims of the Communist Party in power to Taiwan, which has been politically separated from land since 1949 after the Civil War.
Taiwan only has 15 formal diplomatic allies, but maintains informal bonds with all major countries through the trade office that acts as the embassy de facto, including in the United States and Japan.