Emus, a home appliance, electrical and electronics maker owned by Gintautas Paluckas, the Lithuanian Social Democratic Party’s candidate for prime minister, says it will not directly benefit from the politician’s declared intentions to repair relations with China.
The company says it has a “zero China policy” while still importing a small share of non-critical components from China.
“Emus imports the vast majority of components for its products from suppliers in the European Union and the US. A few non-critical components are still imported from China, which account for less than 1 percent of the company’s raw material purchases, and the company is taking consistent steps to eliminate them altogether,” Mindaugas Milašauskas, CEO and one of the shareholders of Emus, told BNS.
“Emus has been following the zero China strategy for a number of years, based on the shareholders’ decision aimed at eliminating any dependence on Chinese suppliers or customers,” he added.
Emus has “never had any customers in China and does not plan to have any”, Milašauskas said, adding that the company has not been affected by the crisis in Lithuania’s relations with Beijing.
The company mainly exports to EU countries and the United States, as well as South Korea and Australia.
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“We have one client in Taiwan and their management office is located in California, but have made rare purchases and their turnover over the last few years is a fraction of one percent,” Milašauskas said.
According to the Centre of Registers, Paluckas owns 51 percent of Emus, and Milašauskas owns 49 percent.
Paluckas also led the company between 2010 and 2015.
The politician, who is tipped to be Lithuania’s next prime minister, also owns a 49-percent stake in Garnis, a company producing battery systems. It has not yet responded to BNS’s request for comments about its trade with China.
Paluckas told BNS in an interview last week that his government would seek to restore full diplomatic relations with China, though without making “excessive concessions”.
Relations between Lithuania and China soured in 2021 after the opening of a Taiwanese mission in Vilnius, leading to Beijing downgrading its diplomatic relations with Vilnius and imposing trade restrictions.
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