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“We have made proposals to China as we propose to assess the situation that is developing. We believe that China’s assessment is too strict. We believe that this is more not only for Lithuania, but also for the international community, not to try to follow suit. from Lithuania, “said G. Landsbergis.
The Lithuanian head of diplomacy considered this to be a consequence of several decisions taken by Lithuania: regarding 5G technologies, protection of investments in Lithuania’s strategic sectors, stronger ties with Taiwan, withdrawal of the format “17 +1 “.
“Apparently, that decision was made to treat Lithuania strictly, which shows that other countries should not go down that path. We believe that this is the wrong diplomatic stance, we offer a different assessment. We believe that all issues can always be discussed diplomatically, even with countries where they have different opinions, ”said G. Landsbergis.
The Foreign Minister said that Lithuania has not felt any major consequences from China’s reaction so far.
“So far, we do not feel very significant concrete consequences. The volume of our trade with China is very small in general, it just has not developed. This is an example of the formats that we developed previously, such as the previous” 17 + 1 ” , they did not work.
Both agricultural products, and all other things, can easily be diverted to other places. All the more so since we have now received great interest from friendly democracies to help Lithuania on these issues, taking over and redirecting part of the trade to other countries, ”said G. Landsbergis.
Lithuania is interested in the return of the Lithuanian ambassador to Beijing, who has been canceled for consultations.
“We always have the expectation that the ambassador will return. We have also submitted proposals to China and we are also waiting for their ambassador. We would like our ambassador to return as well, but there are different experiences: the Norwegian ambassador berods has been consulting for eight years. China He’s using that cooling off period for the countries he wants to teach, ”Landsberg said.
There was disagreement in the committee.
Žygimantas Pavilionis, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Lithuanian Christian National-Democratic Union (TS-LKD) party, said the committee unanimously approved the statement by which the committee members support the government in foreign policy, including in what The People’s Republic of China is concerned.
Once again, we express our support for the diversification of foreign policy in the Indian Pacific region, through the opening of embassies in South Korea, Singapore, the strengthening of the embassy in Japan and the exchange of economic and commercial representations. with Taiwan. We support the president’s initiative to develop a 27 + 1 format for economic and political cooperation in relations with the People’s Republic of China.
We thank the parliaments and members of the parliaments of the EU Member States, the European Parliament, the US Congress and the State Department for their solidarity with Lithuania. And we hope that the leadership of the People’s Republic of China is ready to develop bilateral relations with the Republic of Lithuania, on the basis of mutual respect and international law, “said Ž. Pavilion.
However, this The pavilion was silent. It is not true that the decision was taken unanimously in committee. Giedrius Surplys, representative of the Lithuanian Peasant Green Union, abstained.
“The position is mixed, I abstained. I agree in principle with the policies that our Government follows, but I want those relations to be as diplomatic and constructive as possible, with the least possible consequences for business, for the cultural sector. The ambassador herself said that cultural cooperation is already stagnant, “said G. Surplys.
The MP suggested adding to the supporting text, which was approved by the Foreign Affairs Committee on Thursday, that “we support the one-China policy of the People’s Republic of China.”
“This is also the official position of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It can be repeated. And a disagreement arose in principle on the name of that representation. There is no objection, and I include the fact that the Taiwanese representation in Lithuania is operational, but I spoke about which could be the economic representation of Taipei or Taiwan, so that both the wolf is full and the sheep healthy.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and the majority of the committee members opposed it in principle. At this point, I suggested that at least the wording should be such as to oblige the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to have a constructive dialogue with the People’s Republic of China. That wasn’t taken into account either, ”Surplys said.
It is not yet clear what the consequences will be
So far, MPs have been unable to answer the question of what exactly is the extent of the economic stagnation in relations with China.
“The ambassador has just said repeatedly that calculations of possible losses are being done,” Surplys said.
President of URK Ž. Pavilionis said he understood from the mood in the committee that Lithuania was starting to turn positive.
“The support that is being or could be provided to us in the US, Taiwan and other countries is potentially greater than the potential harm, which is actually very small when our trade offices ask us to provide data. The volume of our trade with the People’s Republic of China is incomparably less than any relationship with other countries, “said Ž. Pabellón.
Relations have faltered since the announcement of plans to open a Taiwanese representation.
According to BNS, in May Lithuania announced its withdrawal from China’s 17 + 1 forum with Central and Eastern European countries, calling this format “divisive”.
Relations have further deteriorated, with the announcement of plans to open a Taiwanese representative office in Lithuania. Then China called the ambassador in Vilnius for consultations and asked Lithuania to follow the “one China” principle. Beijing considers Taiwan a rogue province.
The United States expressed its support for Vilnius in the conflict with Beijing.
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