Explaining the Tension
Lithuania’s relations with Beijing, Minsk and Moscow are traditionally tense. The country’s primary insurance policy in terms of national security is its alliance with the United States through its NATO membership.
In 1990 Lithuania was the first country to actively declare its independence from the Soviet Union, successfully opposing the much mightier Moscow. Kai-Olaf Lang, specialist for Baltic affairs at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) says that freedom, democracy and human rights have been values that politicians in Lithuania have been strongly advocating ever since.
According to Lang, that trend has become more pronounced since autumn 2020 when there was a change of government in Vilnius. This came at the height of pro-democratic protests against Alexander Lukashenko in neighbouring Belarus.
“Many Lithuanians were reminded of their own fight for freedom”, says Lang. The new centre-right government also agreed in their coalition treaty that they would actively oppose every violation of human rights and democratic liberties and defend all those who are fighting for freedom in the world – from Belarus to Taiwan. Since then, Lithuania has offered refuge to many politically persecuted dissidents from its southeastern neighbour, including Belarusian opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya.
In December, 2021, Thomas Latschan of the German news outlet Deutsche Welle wrote about Lithuania being one of the few countries that have dared to challenge China. Vilnius has left an economic forum with Beijing, advised people to throw away Chinese smartphones and opened diplomatic ties with Taiwan. In late November 2021, the Taiwanese Representative Office in Lithuania moved into 16b Jasinskio Street in Vilnius – and that unleashed a furious response from Beijing.
China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province and views any diplomatic relationship with Taiwan as an attack on its One China policy. That’s why it has been putting more and more pressure on countries to break off their ties with Taiwan.
There are few countries left in the world that represent Taiwan under its official name. And those that dare to do so tend to be small and of little economic significance: the Marshall Islands, for example, Guatemala, St Lucia and Eswatini, the African state formerly known as Swaziland.
But Lithuania is an EU member state. It has permitted Taiwan to open its first de facto embassy on European soil for 18 years. Last September, the Lithuanian defence ministry officially advised consumers not to buy Chinese smartphones – and suggested that people who had already bought these cellphones should throw them away. The national cybersecurity body had found that the phones contained a censorship feature that could be activated at any time.
Lithuania also plans to expand its 5G telecommunications network without the participation of any Chinese companies – for “safety reasons”. And at the beginning of 2020 it became the only country, so far, to leave the so-called 17+1 economic cooperation forum between China and many central and eastern European countries.
“We believe that the economic relations established with democratic states are more sustainable and long-lasting, they are more based on the principle of the rule of law, therefore they are more in line with Lithuania’s interests”, said Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis in mid-November.
Beijing is increasingly incensed by the approach being taken in Vilnius. At the end of November, the Global Times – the English-language mouthpiece of the Chinese communist party – expressed its fury at the audacity of a country with a “population [that] is not even as large as that of Chaoyang district in Beijing”, adding that Lithuania is “just a mouse, or even a flea, under the feet of a fighting elephant”.
And the elephant swiftly retaliated, writes Latschan. At the end of November, China downgraded diplomatic relations with the tiny Baltic state, permanently recalling its own ambassador from Vilnius and declaring his Lithuanian counterpart persona non grata.
According to Kai-Olaf Lang, the tone in Chinese state media was very sharp, and Lithuania perceived that accordingly. But, he says, it left the government feeling that it had taken the right course regarding Taiwan.
The expert believes that Vilnius can afford to act like this because only 1.1% of Lithuania’s exports in 2020 went to China. And even though the proportion of Chinese imports over the same period was slightly higher, Lang says that this would not plunge the country into major problems.
Unlike many other states, Lithuania does not have to worry about its economic interests in its foreign policy towards China. In addition, Lithuanians are particularly skeptical when it comes to communist regimes because of their own history.
While Washington has its problems with the foreign policy adopted towards China or Russia by other European countries, Lang says that Lithuania has shown itself to be a loyal partner of the United States by trying to push back against Russia, while, at the same time, signaling to Washington that it is going in the same direction when it comes to containing China.
Knowing the US has its back, Lithuania is pushing for a stricter common European policy towards China. Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said earlier in 2021 that it was time to drop the 17+1 format in favour of the “much more efficient 27+1”, calling for unity among the 27 EU member states when it came to relations with China. “The EU is strongest when all 27 member states act together along with EU institutions”, he said.
The escalation of tensions between Vilnius and Beijing does seem to be stirring some movement within the European Union with respect to this one point at least. “The EU is ready to stand up against all types of political pressure and coercive measures applied against any member state”, said the EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on December 8, in a warning to Beijing.
In December, 2022, Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė discussed US support for Lithuania in response to Chinese economic pressure with Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The Secretary Blinken and Prime Minister Simonyte reaffirmed the importance of the US robust defense and economic relations for the security and prosperity of the Transatlantic region and the world. US Dept of State website reports that the Secretary underscored ironclad U.S. solidarity with “our NATO Ally and EU partner Lithuania“ as it faces geopolitical challenges to regional stability, security, and economic prosperity.
Secretary Blinken noted troubling public reports that People’s Republic of China (PRC) customs authorities are not clearing Lithuanian shipments or shipments with Lithuanian components, and that they are rejecting import applications from Lithuania. The Secretary underscored that such measures would raise serious concerns, including under international trade principles, and appear to constitute a form of economic coercion. Secretary Blinken highlighted U.S. support for Lithuania in the face of these actions and reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to work with like-minded countries to push back against the PRC’s coercive diplomatic and economic behavior. LRT.lt/US Dept of State
