Lithuania aspires to restore diplomatic ties with China but will not renounce its values and principles, Marius Česnulevičius, a presidential adviser on national security issues, told reporters on Monday.
“Restoring normal diplomatic relations would be an aspiration. Do we have to give up our principles and our values for that? No, but there must be a discussion,” Česnulevičius said. “Since [China] is not our enemy, [...] relations must be normalised one way or another.”
Beijing downgraded its diplomatic ties with Vilnius after Lithuania allowed Taiwan to open a trade office in 2021. Normally, such offices are named after Taipei, the capital of republic. However, the office in Vilnius was called "The Taiwanese Representative Office", which China considered an act of international recognition of the self-ruled island that Beijing regards as part of its territory.
“The presidential office is in favour of resuming diplomatic relations, restoring back to where they were a few years ago, so that we have ambassadors and we can have normal diplomatic discussions, diplomatic talks,” he added.
“Discussions are ongoing, but I cannot present to you a specific plan on what will be done when,” Česnulevičius said.
He made the remarks after Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing last week. His meeting followed global trade turmoil in the wake of import tariffs announced by the United States in early April.
Meanwhile, Lithuanian Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas said Lithuania “fell out of the EU context” as it was the only EU country that did not have full diplomatic relations with China.
According to Česnulevičius, China should not be put “on the same shelf” as Russia or Belarus.
“If we were to say that Russia, Belarus and China are a threat, then Russia would be defined more as an enemy, and China would perhaps be an adversary, a competitor,” the presidential adviser said. “We differ in our approach to people, to human freedoms, there are indeed many differences, but China does not pose an existential threat to us.”
In its previous annual security threat reports, Lithuania’s intelligence service, the State Security Department (VSD), named Beijing as a threat.
“These are political decisions, political aspirations. We just need to work and continue to warn about the threats that we face and that we see,” Remigijus Bridikis, the incoming chief of the intelligence service, told reporters.
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