EU to resume WTO case against China over alleged economic coercion of Lithuania

Bloc says Beijing orchestrated trade embargo against Baltic state because of controversially named Taiwan office

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With the exception of Lithuania, Taiwan’s offices across the European Union have traditionally avoided mentioning the island in its name. Photo: Reuters

Published: 11:44pm, 24 Jan 2025Updated: 12:45am, 25 Jan 2025

The European Union will resume its World Trade Organization case against China over the alleged economic coercion of Lithuania.

The bloc’s executive arm, the European Commission, said on Friday it had requested a resumption at the Geneva trade courts, ending a week of speculation over whether it would let the suit expire.

The case was launched in 2022, after a fierce dispute between Vilnius and Beijing over a controversially named “Taiwanese Representative Office” in the tiny Baltic state.

Soon after the office opened, Lithuanian exporters found they could no longer ship products to mainland China. The country’s details had been wiped from the official Chinese customs system.

In November 2021, customs data showed the value of shipments fell by 91.4 per cent compared to a year earlier. The virtual wipeout led the commission, which manages the trade policies of the EU’s 27 member states, to launch a case at the WTO.

The World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Photo: AFP

However, the commission chose to pause the case on January 25 last year when it was due to make a second submission of evidence. Lawyers believed the case was unwinnable after failing to find evidence that the trade embargo was orchestrated by the state in retaliation for the Taiwan episode.