EU verklagt China wegen Handelsbeschränkungen gegen Litauen vor der WTO

PARIS, Jan 27 (Reuters) -EU authorities lodged an appeal with the World Trade Organization (WTO) on Thursday, accusing China of discriminatory trade practices against Lithuania that they say threaten the integrity of the bloc’s single market.

China has downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania and pressured multinationals to sever ties with the Baltic country after it allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in Vilnius.

China, which said the dispute was political and not economic and called Lithuania’s actions an attempt to „hijack“ EU-Beijing relations, considers self-ruled Taiwan its own territory.

The European Commission, which oversees EU trade policy, said in a statement that China’s actions were hurting exporters from Lithuania and other countries in the bloc.

The restrictions included refusing to clear Lithuanian products through customs, rejecting Lithuanian import applications and pressuring EU companies to remove Lithuanian content from supply chains when exporting to China, the Commission said.

It said these actions appeared illegal under WTO rules and that attempts to resolve them bilaterally had failed.

„The EU is determined to act unitedly and swiftly against measures…that threaten the integrity of our single market,“ EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said. He added that diplomatic efforts are also underway.

WTO appeals begin with a formal 60-day period of consultations between the parties. If the dispute is not resolved, the EU can request that a WTO panel rule on the matter. The WTO usually takes years to resolve disputes.

In Beijing, the Foreign Ministry said China had acted in accordance with WTO rules and that its problem with Lithuania was political.

„We remind the EU that…. should be wary of Lithuania’s attempt to hijack China-EU relations,“ ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told a news conference.

Lithuanian officials are discussing whether to ask their Taiwanese counterparts to modify the Chinese translation of the Taiwan Representative Office’s name, two sources told Reuters on Tuesday.

Taiwan said it had not received a request to change the name.