China sanctions Lithuanian official over Taiwan visit

China’s Foreign Ministry on Friday announced plans to sanction Lithuanian Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications Agne Vaiciukeviciute, who visited the Taiwan region this week, which trampled on the one-China principle, seriously interfered in China’s internal affairs, and undermined China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

“In response to the egregious and provocative act of Vaiciukeviciute, China decided to adopt sanctions on Vaiciukeviciute, to suspend all forms of exchange with the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Lithuania, and to suspend exchanges and cooperation with Lithuania in the field of international road transport,” the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Although China has not specified its sanctions against Vaiciukeviciute, analysts said based on previous sanctions against European officials, it’s likely that she and her relatives may be banned from entering the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, and any ties of interest with China linked to her business activities and those of her immediate family members will be severed.

Cui Hongjian, director of the Department of European Studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said that China’s sanctions came very shortly after Vaiciukeviciute’s Taiwan visit, demonstrating China’s firm attitude.

Vaiciukeviciute led a delegation to Taiwan on August 7 for a five-day visit. It was the third in a series of deputy-ministerial visits to the island by the Baltic state, after visits by Lithuania’s Vice Minister of Economy and Innovation Jovita Neliupsiene and Vice Minister of Agriculture Egidijus Giedraitis in June.

The sanctions are very precise, Cui said, noting that the cooperation suspension in international road transport may not just be at the bilateral level, but may also include the multilateral level.

Vaiciukeviciute is the first foreign official sanctioned over provocative Taiwan visit since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was sanctioned.