Restoring Lithuania’s ties with China will be difficult, Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said on Tuesday, stressing that these relations are based on the European Union’s common strategy, which is shifting due to geopolitical and economic reasons.
“Today, our relations with China are defined by the European Union’s common strategy. The EU relations with China are also changing for basic reasons – both because of China’s support for Russia in the war with Ukraine and because of very serious economic frictions, which mean that Europe will definitely defend its market against state-subsidised goods and services coming from China,” Paluckas told LRT RADIO on Tuesday.
“Looking ahead, these relations will be a kind of a bumpy road,” he added.
Paluckas also clarified his earlier comments about restoring ties with China, emphasising that this involves only the appointment of ambassadors in the two countries.
The prime minister told BNS earlier that his government would seek to restore full-fledged diplomatic relations with China, but without making excessive concessions. He also said he would work to bring Lithuania’s ambassador back to Beijing and to see China’s ambassador return to Vilnius.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda also says he is in favour of normalising relations with China but emphasises that both sides must show interest in such a move.
Lithuania’s relations with China soured in 2021 after the opening of the Taiwanese Representative Office in Vilnius. In response, Beijing downgraded diplomatic ties with Vilnius and imposed trade restrictions.
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