China has decided to downgrade diplomatic relations with Lithuania to the level of charge d'affaires, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.
According to a statement of the ministry, on November 18, Lithuania allowed the Taiwan authorities to set up a "Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania in disregard of China's strong protest and repeated representations. The act undermines China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and grossly interferes in China's internal affairs.
Charge d'affaire, is a diplomat who serves as an embassy's chief of mission in the absence of the ambassador. The term is French for "in charge of business," the affaires or business being the ordinary duty of an ambassador.
However, the term charge d'affaire can also mean a diplomatic relation level between two countries. There are five widely recognized diplomatic relation levels in China, which are, from the most friendly, establishing an alliance, sending an ambassador to a receiving country; charge d'affaire; breaking diplomatic ties, and war.
In terms of diplomatic rank, charges d'affaire are outranked by ambassadors, the head of a mission who is accredited to the receiving country's head of state, who heads an embassy and usually is headquartered in the receiving state's capital; and minister, head of legation rather than an embassy, who is accredited to the receiving country's government.
