Taiwan has opted to buy a shipment of Lithuanian rum to avoid being stopped by Chinese customs as a result of Beijing’s increasing economic sanctions against the Baltic state.
The state-owned liquor corporation Tobacco and Liquor Corp. (TTL) announced in a statement on Monday that about 20,400 bottles of black rum produced by MV Group Production are now being re-routed from China to Taiwan.
According to TTL, Lithuanian imports are being held up in China because Beijing has purportedly deleted the name of the Baltic nation from the country’s customs department’s system, implying that Lithuania is no longer a country.
TTL stated that the decision to buy Lithuanian rum was made to offer support for the Baltic nation, which has been under increased political and economic pressure from Beijing for allowing Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in November.