PRC Foreign Ministry: Lithuania approved the representation of Taiwan, diplomatic relations were downgraded 
China downgraded diplomatic relations with Lithuania to the by the fact that Vilnius approved the opening of a representative office of Taiwan. This is reported by TASS with reference to the statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China.
The ministry's statement specifies that, despite strong protests from China, Lithuania approved the creation by the Taiwan administration of the so-called “Taiwan representative office in Lithuania.” >
“China expresses strong dissatisfaction and strong protest in this regard, the Chinese side decided to lower diplomatic relations between the two countries to the level of chargé d'affaires,” the Foreign Ministry added.
In early October Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda said that the countries of the European Union (EU) should move their production from China due to its aggressive foreign policy rhetoric and concentrate them in countries with “Western thinking.” August, when the Lithuanian authorities officially agreed to open a representative office of Taiwan. Beijing expressed a strong protest against such a step, recalled its ambassador from Vilnius and asked the Lithuanian side to withdraw its representative from the PRC, which Vilnius did on September 3. Lithuania announced its intention to develop “mutually beneficial relations with Taiwan, as do many other countries of the European Union and the rest of the world.” independent of the PRC. Only 15 countries of the world officially recognized it as a separate independent state, and Lithuania is not among them yet.