Lithuania urged to stop playing 'tricks'

China urged Lithuania on Wednesday to admit and correct its mistakes for damaging bilateral ties instead of riding the United States' coattails, after Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte discussed on Tuesday the so-called "economic coercion" from China with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

"The responsibility of the severe difficulties faced by the current China-Lithuania relationship solely lies with the Lithuanian side. We have warned the Lithuanian side that the attempt to pull tricks, shirk responsibilities and distort facts will not help solve the problem," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said.

He said that the claims mentioned by Blinken in his call with Simonyte that China's customs authorities are not clearing Lithuanian shipments or shipments with Lithuanian components, and that they are rejecting import applications from Lithuania, are all groundless.

If individual companies in Lithuania face technical problems in their exports to China, they can report that to the relevant administration in China through regular channels, Zhao said.

"The fact that the U.S. accused China with groundless claims in disregard of facts only exposed its real intention is to sow discord," he said, urging the U.S. to be objective and stop distorting facts or instigating confrontations.

"China never engages in bullying sanctions, long-arm jurisdiction or suppression of foreign companies. How can we be accused of coercion?" Zhao said.

The spokesman said the U.S., however, is a true master of economic and military coercion by stretching the concept of national security abuses and national power, and even resorting to lies to suppress other countries' companies.

Last month, China downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania to the charge d'affaires level in response to the Lithuanian government's wrong move to allow the Taiwan authorities to set up a "representative office" in the Baltic state.

Without giving prior notification, Lithuania suddenly removed its diplomats from China last week out of fabricated safety considerations or the groundless claim that it did not get an answer to a request for the extension of identification cards for the diplomats.