Customs announces suspension of Lithuania beef imports

China has suspended imports of beef from Lithuania since Wednesday, according to the General Administration of Customs.

The Customs authority did not give any further details about the suspension.

In another development, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian urged Lithuania on Thursday to redress its mistakes and not gang up with other countries to challenge China.

He made the remarks after Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis claimed that China and Russia were "disrupters of the global rules-based order" and said this required an international response. The Lithuanian diplomat also criticized the two nations with regard to human rights issues.

The Lithuanian foreign minister made the assertions during a meeting with his Australian counterpart Marise Payne in Canberra, Australia, on Wednesday.

Speaking at a regular news briefing, Zhao said Lithuania should "reflect on its own deplorable human rights track record and correct the wrong practices of discrimination against ethnic minorities, deliberate torture and abuse of prisoners as well as the violence against and torture and ill-treatment of refugees".

Lithuania, in disregard of China's repeated representations and the articulation of potential consequences, decided in August to allow the Taiwan authorities to open a "representative office" under the name of "Taiwan", which severely undermined China's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

As a countermeasure, China recalled its ambassador to Lithuania and demanded that the Baltic nation recall its envoy to Beijing.

At the briefing, Zhao urged Lithuania to "face up to the objective facts" and "come back to the right track of adhering to the one-China principle".

During his stay in Australia, Landsbergis also accused China of using economics and trade as a political instrument and welcomed Australia to join World Trade Organization consultations on a complaint by the European Union over Beijing's alleged trade curbs on Lithuania.

Zhao responded earlier that China always follows WTO rules and China's so-called "coercion" of Lithuania "is purely made out of thin air".