Lithuania is ready to send an ambassador or diplomatic envoy to China if Beijing sends one to Vilnius, Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas has said.
“If Beijing sends its diplomatic representative to us, we will send ours to them. That’s the goal, and it doesn’t mean we’re going to make any sacrifices,” Paluckas told journalists on Saturday.
Paluckas made these remarks when asked whether Lithuania was still seeking to restore diplomatic relations with China, despite the State Security Department (VSD) warning that such a move would be a mistake.
Darius Jauniskis, the VSD director, said on Friday that despite talk of a willingness to resume dialogue, China would never forgive Lithuania for its relations with Taiwan, and an apology would only humiliate Vilnius.
Paluckas stressed that Lithuania had no intention of backing down.
“Listen to the VSD director’s position: if we were to make sacrifices, if we were to do something, if we were to make concessions and apologise, and so on. No one is planning to do that,” the prime minister said.
Paluckas said before taking office that his government would seek to restore full diplomatic representation in relations with China without making excessive concessions to Beijing.
In January, Beijing hinted it was open to normalising relations with Lithuania.
“The door to dialogue is always open, and China is ready to strengthen communication and exchanges with Lithuania on the basis of respect and common approach and to seek ways to overcome the current situation while respecting the ‘one China’ principle,” said Fang Mei, counsellor of the Chinese Mission to the European Union.
Lithuania’s relations with China deteriorated in 2021 after Vilnius allowed Taiwan to open its representative office in the Lithuanian capital.
In response, Beijing downgraded diplomatic ties with Lithuania and, according to Vilnius officials, imposed trade restrictions.
Currently, the Chinese mission in Vilnius and the Lithuanian mission in Beijing are headed by chargé d’affaires, not ambassadors.
The European Commission has launched a case at the World Trade Organization over China’s restrictions, but the dispute remains stalled.
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