“We have been informed about this. More information was not provided. I am aware that if needed Lithuanian citizens may be accepted in other countries, in Poland and elsewhere,” Landsbergis told reporters on Thursday during a visit to Ukraine.
The head of Lithuania’s diplomacy could not say why China made the move and whether this is a temporary measure.
Earlier on Thursday, news website 15min.lt reported that the Chinese representation in Lithuania has stopped issuing visas to Lithuanian citizens. Reasons for this were not provided and an official statement was not made.
On Wednesday, the Lithuanian Government banned soldiers and officers from travelling to Russia, Belarus and China off duty.
Relations between Lithuania and China deteriorated several years ago, when the Taiwanese Representative Office was opened in Vilnius at the end of 2021. Beijing imposed diplomatic and economic sanctions claiming that Lithuania violated the “one China policy”. China also downgraded diplomatic relations from the ambassadorial level to the level of chargé d’affaires. Before that Lithuania withdrew from the 17+1 cooperation format between Central and Eastern European countries and China.