EXIM provided $600m to Lithuania to fight punative Chinese sanctions over relations with Taiwan
(Global Echo, Washington, 8 March 2023) In November 2021 the U.S. provided $600 million in an export credit agreement to help Lithuania withstand pressure from China and joined the EU's WTO lawsuit in support of Vilnius. Days after the establishment in 2021 of the “Taipei Representative Office in Lithuania,” Taiwan’s de facto embassy, Beijing downgraded diplomatic relations and blocked most trade with Vilnius over what it calls a violation of the One China policy. The action prompted the European Union to sue China at the World Trade Organization over “discriminatory trade practices” against Lithuania that it said threatened the integrity of the EU single market. Beijing denies instructing Chinese companies to stop doing business with Lithuanian partners. In March 1990, Lithuania became the first republic to break away from the Soviet Union by declaring itself an independent state, a decision the White House applauded.