China slams Lithuania over expulsions amid cable-cutting row

China on Monday slammed Lithuania’s expulsion of three of its nationals amid an ongoing row over the involvement of a Chinese-registered cargo vessel in the cutting of undersea internet cables in the Baltic Sea.

The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday declared three staff members of China’s representative office in the country, a type of diplomatic mission, as personae non gratae, citing alleged violations of the Vienna Convention outlining diplomatic law and Lithuanian legislation, and ordered them to leave the country within a week.

Calling the move “brutal and provocative behavior,” China’s foreign ministry said Vilnius had previously expressed a desire to improve ties with Beijing, and expressed “strong condemnation.”

The spat comes after questions were raised over the activities of a Chinese ship that was spotted near two undersea internet cables that were cut in the Baltic Sea on Nov. 17 and 18.

While European officials haven’t made details of their investigations public, one of the undersea cables that was cut runs between Sweden and Lithuania.

Social media users spotted the Chinese ship slightly slowing down and altering course as it crossed the 730-mile C-Lion 1 undersea cable connecting Finland and Germany and the 130-mile link between Sweden and Lithuania around the time that they were cut.

Several media reports said the authorities in Sweden and Finland are investigating the suspected sabotage of two undersea fiber-optic cables in the Baltic Sea, with attention focusing on a Chinese-registered cargo ship, the Yi Peng 3.

The ship was still anchored off Denmark on Monday, in close proximity to the German patrol vessel Bamberg, according to MarineTraffic.com.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning had said on Friday that Beijing was “willing to cooperate ... to find out the truth” of the allegations.

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But China hit out at Lithuania’s move on Monday.

“China hopes that the new Lithuanian government will take concrete actions to abide by the political commitments made in the communiqué on the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, adhere to the one-China principle, and push bilateral relations back on track,” foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular news briefing in Beijing on Monday.

The state-run Global Times newspaper said Lithuania has already angered Beijing by switching ties in 2021 to democratic Taiwan, which China claims as “an inalienable part” of its territory.

“Three years on since the downgrade of bilateral ties with China, Lithuania has again taken detrimental action that further exacerbates the relations,” the paper said in an editorial.

“China calls on Lithuania to immediately stop undermining China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and stop creating difficulty for bilateral relations,”

China reserves the right to take countermeasures against Lithuania, it quoted the country’s foreign ministry as saying.

Translated by Luisetta Mudie.