China on Wednesday suspended imports of beef from Lithuania, the Chinese General Administration of Customs said.
It did not give a reason for the suspension.
The agency typically halt imports of meat if exporting nations report outbreaks of disease in livestock.
Lithuania has not reported any animal disease to the World Organisation for Animal Health recently.
However, the move comes after Britain on Monday said that it would join the US and Australia in backing an EU trade case against China at the WTO over Beijing’s alleged trade curbs on Lithuania.
The European Commission says that Lithuanian exports to China fell 91 percent in December last year from a year earlier.
Lithuania last year allowed Taiwan to open a de facto embassy in its capital, Vilnius, angering Beijing.
China is the world’s top importer of beef, but shipments from Lithuania are minimal.
China last year imported 775 tonnes of beef from Lithuania out of 2.36 million tonnes of total beef imports that year, Chinese customs data showed.
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