Breitbart spoke with A Lithuanian MP that has told the U.S. news outlet that “communism is a plague” and that China represents one of the “most imminent threats” to the free world after the latest round of threats from Beijing over the opening of a de-facto Taiwanese embassy.

On Sunday, the Chinese Communist Party officially downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania after the NATO ally and EU member state opened the ‘Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania’ in the capital city of Vilnius on Thursday.

The use of the word ‘Taiwan’ — instead of the CCP’s preferred ‘Chinese Taipei’ — for the name of the office enraged Beijing, who claimed that the move violated the so-called One-China policy, which demands countries do not recognise Taiwan as an independent nation, despite the country having its own distinct government, military, currency, and culture.

Announcing the decision to downgrade diplomatic ties, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian warned that the communist government will “take all necessary measures to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

The state-run propaganda outlet the Global Times threatened that if “Lithuania offends China and Russia, its security environment will face more dangers,” going on to claim that the Baltic state’s actions could jeopardise “regional security and even global peace.”

In an exclusive interview with Breitbart London, Lithuanian MP Dovile Šakaliene responded to the threats by noting simply: “Communists are not nice people anywhere.”

Šakaliene said that Lithuania’s history of “repression and terror” under the boot of Stalin’s Soviet Union, which tried to enact the “communist goal of eradicating free will, fundamental rights, and freedoms,” has informed her country’s desire to stand up for Taiwan against the totalitarian regime.

“Communism is a plague,” she pronounced, adding: “We didn’t like it, and I don’t think we will ever like it.”