WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Senator Rick Scott released the following statement after reports revealed that the Communist Chinese Government is giving multinational corporations an ultimatum: end business with Lithuania, or lose all business in Communist China. This comes after Lithuania has shown support for Taiwan and opened a representative office for the democratic nation in its capital city of Vilnius.

Senator Rick Scott said, “I applaud Lithuania for standing up for freedom and democracy – first for the people of Cuba, and now for Taiwan as it faces increased aggression from Communist China. We all need to be clear-eyed about what the Chinese Communist Party is: authoritarian thugs. It behaves like a corrupt, organized crime syndicate that pressures the Chinese people into obedience and threatens foreign nations with economic destruction unless they do exactly what General Secretary Xi says. Communist China has spent the past year harassing and intimidating Australia because it dared to inquire about the origins of COVID-19. Now that Lithuania is treating Taiwan as the democratic and self-governing nation that it is, Beijing is throwing a fit and threatening corporations with economic ultimatums targeted at devastating the Lithuanian people and its economy. Communist China’s thin-skinned bullying shows nothing but weakness and cannot be tolerated. Every freedom-loving country must stand up to Communist China and support the people of Lithuania.”

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