Advertisement Lithuania plans to open a representative’s office in Taiwan, a government spokesperson told Reuters this week, a further sign that China’s outreach to Central and Eastern Europe is faltering. In addition, a spokesperson from the Lithuanian Foreign Ministry told Reuters that going forward the country was going to put less emphasis on the 17+1 grouping, which brings together China and 17 Central and Eastern European countries. “In our opinion, the economic initiative did not bring the expected result to Lithuania, so we plan to concentrate on developing our economic relationship with China bilaterally, and within the framework of EU and China cooperation,” spokesperson Vytaute Smaizyte told Reuters.