China Suspends Beef Imports And Asks Lithuania To Learn From Mistakes Over Taiwan Embassy?

Illustrated. (Wikimedia Commos / Myrabella)

JAKARTA - China suspended beef imports from Lithuania this week, China's General Administration of Customs said on Thursday, amid a growing trade dispute over the Baltic nation's relations with Taiwan, which Beijing claims as Chinese territory.

The agency normally stops meat imports if the exporting country reports an outbreak of disease in livestock, but Lithuania has not reported any animal disease to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) recently. No specific reason was given by China for the suspension.

The move to halt imports on Wednesday came after Britain said on Monday it would join the United States and Australia in supporting the European Union's trade case against China at the World Trade Organization (WTO), over Beijing's alleged trade restrictions in Lithuania.

The European Commission said Lithuania's exports to China fell 91 percent in December compared with the same month in 2020.

Lithuania's veterinary agency said the country had not exported food products, including beef, to China since early December 2021. The agency did not immediately provide further details.

Over the past year, Lithuania exported 853 tonnes of beef to China, a quarter of its total beef exports. It also exports dairy products and fish to China, the agency told Reuters.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. (Twitter/@zlj517)

Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in its capital Vilnius last year, angering Beijing, which regards the democratically-ruled island as its own territory.

Separately, 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 the facts, correct its own mistakes, and get back on the right track to adhere to the 'One China' principle, instead of confusing right with wrong," Zhao said, referring to China's policy of demanding countries to recognize Taiwan as part of mainland China.

Meanwhile, Taiwan's Foreign Ministry condemned China's latest move, which it called unilateral and intimidating, the latest example of Beijing trying to change Lithuania's foreign policy.

"We firmly stand with Lithuania," Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou told reporters.

To note, China is the largest beef importer in the world, although shipments from Lithuania are minimal. China imported 775 tonnes of beef from Lithuania in 2021, out of a total of 2.36 million tonnes of beef imports that year according to Chinese customs data.