FILE - Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland sits next to an empty chair with the Nobel Peace Prize medal and diploma during a ceremony honoring Nobel Peace Prize laureate Liu Xiaobo in Oslo, Norway, on Dec. 10, 2010. The U.S. State Department has set up an eight-person team known as the "firm" to provide help to countries cut off from Chinese trade. In one example, when the committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to Liu Xiaobo, Beijing stopped buying salmon from the Nordic country. (AP Photo/John McConnico, File)
FILE - Lithuania's Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis attends a meeting at the State Department, March 25, 2024, in Washington. The State Department has set up an eight-person team known as the "firm" to provide help to countries cut off from Chinese trade. The team emerged after Washington stepped in to help Lithuania when the northern European country found its cargo shipments to and from China stranded two years ago during a feud over Taiwan. Landsbergis said the aim of Chinese economic pressure "is to crush the victims by forcing reversal and public renunciation of its policies." (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)
FILE - Lithuanian and European Union flags fly outside the Lithuanian Embassy in Beijing, Dec. 16, 2021. The U.S. State Department has set up an eight-person team known as the "firm" to provide help to countries cut off from Chinese trade. The team emerged after Washington stepped in to help Lithuania when the northern European country found its cargo shipments to and from China stranded two years ago during a feud over Taiwan. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
FILE - The nameplate for the Lithuanian Embassy is seen on the outside of the embassy building in Beijing, on Dec. 16, 2021. The U.S. State Department has set up an eight-person team known as the "firm" to provide help to countries cut off from Chinese trade. The team emerged after Washington stepped in to help Lithuania when the northern European country found its cargo shipments to and from China stranded two years ago during a feud over Taiwan. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)