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The minister, who has already visited other Baltic countries this week, has recently been traveling to regions where China is trying to strengthen its economic and political influence, diplomats say.
A few months ago, he met with the Foreign Ministers of the Visegrad countries in Warsaw.
The head of Japanese diplomacy will meet Foreign Minister Gabriel Landsbergis and Prime Minister Ingrid Simonyte in Vilnius.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the visit will focus on bilateral relations, cooperation in international organizations and regional and international issues.
A broader look at Asia
The Japanese minister should present to Lithuania the strategy initiated by Tokyo for a free and open region of India and the Pacific as a counterweight to deeper ties with Beijing.
Such an alternative may seem attractive to Lithuania, looking at the country’s attempts to increase its distance from China in recent months for fear of unwanted political influence from Beijing.
Political scientist Konstantinas Andrijauskas says the current Lithuanian government constantly seeks to diversify foreign policy in Asia and focus on democracies of closer value, including the third world economy, Japan.
“Lithuania wants to look at Asia more broadly, and if we compare the Asian economic powers, after China we have Japan,” said an associate professor at the Institute of International Relations and Political Science at Vilnius University.
Meanwhile, Japan is well aware that China is becoming a superpower and its influence is growing not only in East Asia but also in other parts of the world, the expert said.
“Wherever China tries to increase activity, Japan seeks to offer its own alternative,” he said.
Relations between Vilnius and Beijing have deteriorated in recent months.
Lithuania has criticized the human rights situation in China, blocked Chinese investment, and the government has announced plans to open a trade mission in Taiwan, which China considers a rogue province.
All of this was crowned by Lithuania’s decision to withdraw from the Central and Eastern European countries and from China’s 17 + 1 cooperation format, calling on the EU to find a common position on relations with Beijing.
According to K. Andrijauskas, such a decision certainly attracted the attention of Japan.
“Japan and other Asian countries are used to China’s increasing difficulty in resisting the growth of power,” the political scientist said.
“That is why it is important for them to see precedents that show that this is possible, especially when it is done by countries that do not seem to be very important on a global scale,” he added.
Focus on positive stories
The Japanese Foreign Minister will also pay tribute in Kaunas to the memory of Chiunes Sugihara, a diplomat who saved Jews from the Holocaust during World War II.
T. Motegi will visit the house in Žaliakalnis, where the Japanese consulate was located in 1939-1940.
According to K. Andrijauskas, emphasize ch. Sugihara’s role is a well-established tradition in communication between Lithuanian and Japanese officials, but the example of his work in recent years has been particularly important to Tokyo on the Russia-China-induced disputes over World War II.
Discussions about the war are unpleasant for Japan, a former ally of Nazi Germany.
“In this context, it makes sense for the Japanese to pay more attention to the stories that show Japan’s positive role at the time. Sugihara’s story is an example, “said the expert.
Ch. Sugihara opened a consulate in Kaunas in the fall of 1939. He was tasked with gathering intelligence information on the military situation in the region.
At the beginning of the war, when the Nazis and the Soviets divided Poland, thousands of Jews came to the country to seek refuge in Lithuania. But after the Red Army occupied the country, they began looking for ways to escape the war.
Ignoring the strict instructions of the Japanese government, Cap. Sugihara issued several thousand transit visas in the summer of 1940. After receiving them, thousands of Jews arrived in Japan by train through Siberia. According to historians, ch. Thanks to Sugihara, the Holocaust escaped 6,000. Jews.
The former consulate now houses a museum.
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