TAIPEI/VILNIUS—Taiwan’s leadership will host a group of Lithuanian lawmakers next week amid a deepening spat between Beijing and Vilnius about the Baltic state’s decision to allow the self-ruled island to open a de facto embassy. Beijing downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania on Sunday in a show of anger over the de facto embassy move. The Chinese communist regime claims the island as its own, despite the fact that Taiwan is a de facto independent country, with its own military, democratically-elected government, and constitution. Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday that Matas Maldeikis, leader of the Lithuanian parliament’s Taiwan Friendship Group, would visit Taipei to attend a legislative forum on Dec 2–3, along with some colleagues and lawmakers from Latvia and Estonia. In all, 10 representatives from the three Baltic states will be participating. The group will meet Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen along with other senior officials, the ministry added. Maldeikis …