The plan was presented to President Gitanas Nauseda during Wednesday's meeting, according to Landsbergis.

"[The plan is] to generally inform [Beijing] that evidence is being gathered and submitted to the European authorities on violations of trade agreements," the minister told reporters. "That evidence will most likely be submitted to the World Trade Organization, which may later lead to the opening of a case."

"We are informing [Beijing] that Europe is not sitting back and doing nothing. It is monitoring the situation and actively looking at how to resolve the situation through legal means, among other things," he said.

Landsbergis said he could give no specific dates as to when de-escalation efforts could start producing results.

"Lithuania is doing its part, but the real de-escalation depends primarily on China," he said. "We can't yet give any dates when China might take one or another step."

Relations between Lithuania and China turned sour after Vilnius allowed Taiwan to call its representative office "Taiwanese" rather than "Taipei's".

However, Landsbergis said the government will not change its position on the issue.

"No, backing down isn't in the government's plans," the minister said.

"The Bank of Lithuania also presented this as a problem of limited scope that, in fact, can bring considerable benefits to Lithuania – if we work actively, which we are doing, [...] – by opening up new markets, bringing in new partners and strengthening old partnerships, including with the United States whose strategic support is extremely important," he said.

Some of the business representatives who participated in Wednesday's meeting with the president say that Lithuanian companies' problems with the Chinese market started "well before" the decision on the opening of the Taiwanese office in Vilnius, according to Landsbergis.

China last autumn halted freight trains to Lithuania, stopped issuing food export permits, cut credit limits and raised prices for Lithuanian companies, and removed Lithuania from its customs systems, meaning that Lithuanian goods cannot clear customs.

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