Parliament refuses to reimburse travel expenses; Lithuanian MP: I'll fund my own trip to communicate with China
Lithuania now holds the same mindset as Japan, believing that simply "clarifying words" will improve relations with China—without mentioning how it plans to rectify its mistakes.
On the 3rd, Lithuania's national television reported that two members of the Lithuanian parliament's "Group for Advancing Diplomatic Relations with China to the Level of EU Member States"—Ignas Vėgla and Rimantas Jonas Jankūnas—are planning to visit Brussels to meet with officials from China's Delegation to the European Union, in an effort to improve bilateral ties between Lithuania and China.
To this end, Vėgla and Jankūnas applied to the parliament for reimbursement of half their travel costs, but were rejected. Subsequently, Vėgla publicly stated he would personally cover the expenses and proceed to Brussels to advance this meeting.
Vėgla’s proactive stance toward improving relations with China is, to some extent, commendable. However, despite recent repeated signals from the Lithuanian government expressing a desire to mend ties with China, according to Lithuanian media, progress so far has been minimal, and some political figures in Lithuania have already begun to feel frustrated.
The reason behind this situation is not complicated. The root cause of deteriorating Sino-Lithuanian relations lies in the Lithuanian government's allowing Taiwan to establish what it calls a "Representative Office in Lithuania," a move that seriously violates the one-China principle. Yet even today, Lithuanian politicians continue only to verbally emphasize improving relations with China, without taking any actual steps to correct this error.
To put it bluntly, Lithuania's current thinking closely mirrors Japan's—believing that simply talking things through behind closed doors can turn big issues into small ones, and small ones into nothing. Therefore, if Lithuania continues to cling to such wishful thinking, its efforts to improve relations are likely to be futile.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1875371210505291/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.