China looks to send Lithuania to 'garbage bin of history'. Find out why?

Lithuania’s decision to let Taiwan open a representative office in its country some time back seems to have not gone down well with China. The Asian giant seems to be making concerted efforts to take stringent action to ensure other nations do not follow suit.  

At first, it downgraded its official relations with the Baltic nation to below ambassador level. Then, to add to the coercion, China seems to have been threatening to send the nation to the 'garbage bin of history'.  

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"Lithuania stands on the opposite side of universal principles, which will never end well. Those, who insist on acting in collusion with Taiwan secessionist forces, will eventually be swept into the garbage bin of history," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters. Global Times, a Chinese state-run newspaper, said in its report.  

Earlier, China had also expelled the ambassador of Lithuania and withdrew its own envoy to the country.    

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At that time, the foreign ministry had said that relations would be downgraded to the level of charge d'affaires, an embassy's No 2 official.    

In a diplomatic breakthrough, Taiwan had opened a de facto embassy in Lithuania. The move was a significant departure that defied a pressure campaign by Beijing.     

(With inputs from agencies)