EU Clarifying If China Obstructs Customs Clearance For Lithuanian Firms - Commission

The European Union is inquiring about complaints by Lithuanian firms of not being able to get customs clearance to deliver goods to China, European Commission spokeswoman Miriam Garcia Ferrer said on Monday

BRUSSELS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 06th December, 2021) The European Union is inquiring about complaints by Lithuanian firms of not being able to get customs clearance to deliver goods to China, European Commission spokeswoman Miriam Garcia Ferrer said on Monday.

Last week, the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists voiced its assumption that China has unofficially removed Lithuania from its customs system amid the deterioration of bilateral ties after Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in the Lithuanian capital separately from China. The move was criticized by Beijing, which considers Taiwan a part of China.

"We have to see whether the Chinese action is compatible with WTO (World Trade Organization) rules, in parallel we are also working with the Chinese authorities and we are trying to get clarification," Ferrer told a briefing.

The Lithuanian government informed the Commission about separate situations of this kind, she specified, adding that the EU is working to determine whether such cases are systematic.

The Taiwanese representative office in Lithuania, which opened last month, does not equal an embassy or a consulate that would compromise the One China policy, the spokeswoman added.

In August, after the decision of Vilnius to allow for the establishment of the Taiwanese office, China recalled its ambassador from Lithuania, which was followed by a reciprocal measure from Vilnius. Last month, Beijing also downgraded relations with Lithuania to the level of charges d'affaires.