《TAIPEI TIMES》 TTL to purchase shipment of rum from Lithuania

HELPING HAND: The decision to purchase the rum was to show support for the Baltic nation, after shipments of its beer had been blocked by Beijing

/ Staff writer, with CNA

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Taiwan has decided to purchase a shipment of Lithuanian rum to prevent it from being potentially blocked by Chinese customs amid Beijing’s growing economic sanctions on the Baltic state, Taiwan Tobacco and Liquor Corp （TTL, 台灣菸酒） said yesterday.

The state-owned company said in a statement that about 20,400 bottles of dark rum produced by MV Group Production AB were being rerouted to Taiwan.

The shipment is expected to arrive later this month, when the liquor initially destined for China would be relabeled and sold on the local market, TTL said.

The company said it was notified on Dec. 18 by the Ministry of Finance and Representative to Lithuania Eric Huang （黃鈞耀） that a batch of Lithuanian rum scheduled to arrive in China on Dec. 29 could face hurdles with customs because China early last month reportedly removed Lithuania from its list of origin nations, virtually blocking any cargo from Lithuania from entering the nation.

Although Chinese customs reportedly later put Lithuania back on its list, TTL said there have been instances since of shipments of Lithuanian beer being blocked at the Chinese border.

It said the decision to purchase the Lithuanian rum was to show support for the Baltic nation, which has faced increasing political and economic pressure from Beijing to punish it after it allowed Taipei to open the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania in Vilnius in November.

新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES