If China has plans in EU, it'll be interested in having relations with Lithuania too - PM

VILNIUS - If China has interests in the European Union, Beijing will be interested in having diplomatic relations with Lithuania, Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas says.

"If the Chinese have interests or plans in the EU, Lithuania is one of the EU countries, Lithuania's voice in Europe is certainly not the last one, then China is also interested in having diplomatic relations with us," Paluckas told reporters at the Seimas on Tuesday.

In his words, the "simple way" to restore diplomatic relations with Beijing is for China to send its ambassador to Vilnius, and for Lithuania to send its representative to Beijing.

"We are not going to make any concessions, no apologies. (...) We will not sacrifice anything as respectful bilateral relations are not based on sacrifice, humiliation of each other or demands to apologize, but they have on a very business-like basis," the prime minister said.

As BNS reported earlier, Lithuania's relations with China soured in 2021 after Vilnius began forging closer ties with Taipei and allowed the island to open its representative office in the Lithuanian capital with "Taiwanese" in its name.

China views the move as an attempt by Taiwan to act as an independent state. Elsewhere, such offices operate under the name Taipei.

China has called for the change of the name to normalize bilateral relations.

Paluckas said earlier this week that that Lithuania "falls out of the EU context", being the only EU member states without diplomatic relations with China.

Speaking on Monday, Marius Cesnulevicius, the president's advisor on national security issues said that restoring diplomatic relations with China would be an aspiration, adding, however, that Lithuania would not abandon its values and principles to do so.