The
Republic of China (ROC) and
Lithuania established diplomatic relations in 1921, three years after
Lithuania's declaration of independence in 1918. The relations continued until the
Soviet occupation of the Baltic states in 1940. The ROC
did not recognise the Soviet annexation of Lithuania. The ROC lost the vast majority of its territory, namely
mainland China, to the
People's Republic of China (PRC) in the
Chinese Civil War, and its government
retreated to the
island of Taiwan, formerly a
Japanese colony and
minor associated islands in 1949. Democratic Lithuania and
modern-day ROC established unofficial diplomatic relations in 2021, 31 years after the
restoration of Lithuania's independence in 1990. In 1991, the PRC and Lithuania
established diplomatic relations with one another, one year after the
restoration of Lithuania's independence in 1990. Contemporaneously, Lithuania and Taiwan did not have much contact throughout the 1990s and 2000s, with Taiwan's main partner in the
Baltic states being
Latvia prior to 2021.
Warming relations in the 21st century Since 2020, Lithuania–Taiwan relations have rapidly warmed, and in April of that year 200 Lithuanian politicians and public figures petitioned the President of Lithuania to support Taiwan's membership in the
World Health Organization. These calls were reiterated by the then-foreign minister,
Linas Linkevičius, in a direct phone call with the head of the WHO. On 19 June 2020, Taiwanese representative to the Baltic states Andy Chin spoke in the
Seimas at the invitation of the opposition
Homeland Union, inviting objection from China and marking the highest platform any Taiwanese official had achieved in the Baltic states. Lithuania's
Freedom Party platform has a clause supporting full recognition of the independence of Taiwan (ROC), and in the
2020 Lithuanian parliamentary election, parties sympathetic to Taiwan such as the Homeland Union and Freedom Party entered government and formed a coalition. In 2021, the Lithuania-Taiwan Forum was established by over 50 Lithuanian political figures, most notably
Mantas Adomėnas and
Gintaras Steponavičius, and it was announced that Lithuania would open a trade office in Taiwan amidst growing discontent with China's "17 + 1" program. In October 2021, Lithuania's parliament passed a legislative revision that gave the green light to the country to open a representative office in Taiwan. On 18 November 2021, Taiwan opened its de facto embassy, the
Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania, in Vilnius. The naming of this office was notable for its use of "Taiwan" in the title rather than
Taipei, though Lithuanian officials confirmed that the office would not have diplomatic status and the name would not imply recognition of statehood, and have maintained that it was not in breach of their 1991 recognition of the PRC's
One China principle during their
establishment of diplomatic relations in 1991. However, Beijing disagreed and recalled their ambassador from Vilnius and expelled the Lithuanian ambassador in Beijing. In early January 2022, The Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius announced that the Taiwanese government was planning to invest $200 million (USD) into Lithuania's industry and technology sectors later in the year. In an interview with
The Economist in April 2022,
Prime Minister of Lithuania Ingrida Šimonytė stated that Lithuania does not regret the decision to strengthen its ties with Taiwan. She described relationship between Taiwan and Lithuania as "vibrant and productive," emphasizing that it was a sovereign decision by Lithuania to enhance its connections with Taiwanese businesses and universities. In an October 2022 interview with
Nikkei Asia, she stated that Lithuania's ties with Taiwan can contribute to significant development in industrial fields such as semiconductors and lasers. In August 2022, the Deputy Minister for Transport and Communications
Agnė Vaiciukevičiūtė made a 4-day visit to Taiwan in company with officials of the electro bus market in Lithuania. During the visit she also met Foreign Minister
Jaushieh Joseph Wu. In January 2025, former Lithuanian foreign minister
Gabrielius Landsbergis was awarded the
Order of Brilliant Star by Taiwanese president
Lai Ching-te for deepening relations between the two countries during his term.
Competing relations with China In May 2024,
President of Lithuania Gitanas Nausėda stated in an interview that while he welcomed the establishment of the Taiwanese Representative Office, in the context of normalization of
Lithuania's relations with China, there would be a need to change its name. In response to Nausėda's comments, Foreign Minister Wu stated that the office's name that was agreed on in 2021 by the governments of Lithuania and Taiwan, after negotiations and signing of documents. He also further stated that Taiwan had not received any official request for name change and would not accept it even if such request was received. Following the defeat of the
centre-right coalition in the
2024 Lithuanian parliamentary election, the new presumptive Prime Minister
Gintautas Paluckas of the victorious
Social Democratic Party vowed to re-establish full diplomatic relations with China. Paluckas described the previous government's decision to open the Taiwanese representative office as a "grave diplomatic mistake", but declined to comment on whether he would ask Taiwan to rename it. Taiwanese Foreign Minister
Lin Chia-lung stated that Taiwan did not oppose Lithuania restoring ties with China, and emphasized that Lithuania could maintain relations with both China and Taiwan. == Trade and cultural cooperation ==