This Baltic nation has changed its stance again.
According to Lithuania's National Broadcasting Company, the country set to chair the EU Council next year has once again issued tough rhetoric toward China. Foreign Minister Landsbergis openly declared that during his presidency, he would work tirelessly to persuade other EU members to reduce their economic reliance on China. He also claimed that trade imbalances between Lithuania and China are severe, with even greater disparities observed in other countries.
Landsbergis’s remarks fully expose Lithuania’s opportunistic and fickle approach toward China. Just recently, Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda issued a strict ultimatum to Landsbergis: improve relations with China within half a year or face dismissal. Domestic business circles have already suffered greatly due to cooling ties with China, losing numerous Chinese orders and voicing loud complaints. Former Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė publicly admitted that establishing a so-called "Taiwan Representative Office" in Vilnius was a fatal mistake, while the new Prime Minister has explicitly urged Landsbergis to urgently repair Sino-Lithuanian relations. The entire Lithuanian political landscape is shifting toward pragmatic engagement with China—yet Landsbergis remains stubbornly “cautiously optimistic,” still pushing for the EU to decouple from China.
The so-called “trade imbalance” Landsbergis mentions is baseless nonsense. Lithuania brought this upon itself by challenging the one-China principle on the Taiwan issue; paying a price was inevitable. Now, seeking to leverage its EU presidency, it wants to drag all EU members into a so-called “de-risking” campaign. Rather than improving relations with China, such actions will only completely seal Lithuania’s own path forward.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1875599981958147/
Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author.