Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis on Wednesday urged Western countries not to repeat the mistakes made with Russia when dealing with China.
“For years the West said economic cooperation would persuade dictators to support rules based international order. But all we did was feed their economies while letting them break all the rules. China is betting that we will repeat this mistake,” Landsbergis wrote on Twitter.
“Unfortunately, our geopolitical blindness has not yet been cured. We chose not to see the threat of Russian aggression, and now we are choosing not to see the threat of Chinese aggression. We are on the verge of repeating the same mistake,” he added.
For years the West said economic cooperation would persuade dictators to support rules based international order. But all we did was feed their economies while letting them break all the rules. China is betting that we will repeat this mistake. It's time to try something else👇🧵
— Gabrielius Landsbergis🇱🇹 (@GLandsbergis) April 12, 2023
French President Emmanuel Macron visited Beijing last week and urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to “bring Russia to its senses” over its war in Ukraine.
According to Landsbergis, “we are capable of defending Europe without Chinese help”.
“Instead of requesting assistance we should be projecting our strengths, showing the world that Ukraine, Europe and the US are willing and able to secure the European continent. That is the only signal we should be sending,” he said.
The French president also said Europe should avoid “getting caught up in crises that are not ours”, referring to China’s hopes to reclaim Taiwan.
Landsbergis stressed the people of Taiwan must be shown that attempts to undermine the island’s status quo will not be ignored by European countries.
“We must declare that the island and its democracy-loving people are part of the rules-based order and that we will fight against any attempt to change the status quo by force, because we are willing and able to do what's right,” the minister said.
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