FM: US understands Lithuania’s need to restore ties with Beijing for economic security - BNS EXCLUSIVE

VILNIUS - The United States "understands" Lithuania’s need to restore diplomatic relations with Beijing, while working alongside Vilnius and the European Union (EU) to achieve economic security, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys has said.

"The United States, as far as it was discussed here,... fully understands the need for diplomatic representation. This is not something that carries any inherent moral weight," the Lithuanian top diplomat told BNS on Thursday night from Washington.

"We discussed how we - Lithuania, the European Union, and the United States - should together ensure our economic security against actors such as China, which manipulates supply conditions, creates industrial overcapacity, distorts the market, imposes restrictions on access to its market, and so on. How can we level all that playing field?" Budrys stressed.

He noted that Lithuania and the US "are in complete agreement" on these issues, which is why Vilnius has joined the Critical Minerals Agreement and is also seeking to join the "Pax Silica" declaration on advanced technology supply chains and "will continue to work in that direction."

"Policy is the essence. Goals are the essence. How we achieve them, and what tools we have at our disposal, is something each country must determine for itself. Lithuania must have its full diplomatic arsenal. And diplomatic representation is one of the key elements. We have embassies in Russia and Belarus, so I’m starting to completely fail to understand why anyone would even question that goal," the Lithuanian top diplomat said.

Budrys asserted that the goals of the United States and Lithuania regarding China coincide "through the prism of economic security."

"Of course, their (the US) agenda is much broader than ours. In the United States today, this is very much on people’s minds as they await Chinese President Xi’s visit to Washington (scheduled for next week). There will, of course, be many issues to discuss there, but when it comes to strategic sectors and technologies that will shape the world’s future for generations to come, we are on the same side - and not on China’s," the foreign minister added.

Bilateral relations between Vilnius and Beijing soured in 2021 after Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a representative office in the country under the name "Taiwanese".

The ruling coalition has recently stepped up calls for the normalization of relations with China, though this has yet to yield practical results.