Lithuanian formin: govt program wording on China will be amended

VILNIUS - With the new Lithuanian government’s program no longer containing a provision on the threat posed by China and instead spelling out the goal of restoring diplomatic relations with that country, Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys says that this part of the program will still be amended.

"We will have some suggestions on what the corrections to that provision should be," he told reporters on Tuesday.

"Some of the wording was probably lost in the process of coordinating the government's program," the minister added.

According to him, China continues to pose a threat to the current world order.

"China is contributing to the emerging threats to us on more than one front, both in terms of European security and economic security, directly and indirectly enabling Russia to continue its aggression against Ukraine, engaging in unfair economic practices and various other things. There is probably no need to recall Lithuania's experiences. It is clear that this is a major systemic challenge to the entire current world order," Budrys said.

Lithuania’s previous government led by Gintautas Paluckas stated in its program that China "is becoming an increasing challenge to our foreign and security policy", and that "China's strategic partnership with Russia and its growing influence in Belarus" should also be considered a threat.

Meanwhile, the draft program of the new government led by Inga Ruginiene, which was registered on Tuesday, refrains from making such statements, merely asserting that it will seek to "restore diplomatic relations with China to the same diplomatic level as in other European Union countries".

Ruginiene earlier told BNS she would urge China to respond to the proposal made by the previous government to restore diplomatic relations.

For the past few years, Vilnius and Beijing have been at odds over how to restore their diplomatic representation.

In June, then-Prime Minister Paluckas said that a proposal on restoration of relations had been sent to China.

He did not elaborate on the proposal but insisted that it was not related to changing the name of the Taiwanese mission in Vilnius.

Ruginiene also said that there are no intentions to make any changes related to Taiwan’s representative office.

In the fall of 2021, Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a Taiwanese mission in Vilnius, angering Beijing, which saw this as Lithuanian support for Taiwan's attempts to act as an independent state. In other countries, such representative offices operate under the name of Taipei.

There have been no accredited Chinese diplomats or other staff members in Lithuania since mid-May.