Lithuania’s new government will amend its draft program to reflect China’s role as a global security threat, Foreign Minister Kęstutis Budrys said Tuesday, after the registered document omitted such language and instead emphasised restoring diplomatic relations with Beijing.
“We will have some suggestions on what the corrections to that provision should be,” Budrys told reporters. “Some of the wording was probably lost in the process of coordinating the government’s program.”
He stressed that China remains a challenge. “China is contributing to the emerging threats to us on more than one front, both in terms of European security and economic security, directly and indirectly enabling Russia to continue its aggression against Ukraine, engaging in unfair economic practices and various other things,” Budrys said. “It is clear that this is a major systemic challenge to the entire current world order.”
The outgoing government of Gintautas Paluckas had stated explicitly that China was becoming an increasing challenge to Lithuania’s foreign and security policy, citing its strategic partnership with Russia and its growing influence in Belarus.
By contrast, the program of incoming Prime Minister Inga Ruginienė, submitted to parliament Tuesday, dropped that language and said only that her cabinet would seek to “restore diplomatic relations with China to the same diplomatic level as in other European Union countries”.
Ruginienė has said she would urge Beijing to respond to an earlier proposal sent by Paluckas’ cabinet to re-establish ties. She has also made clear that there are no plans to alter the name of Taiwan’s representative office in Vilnius, the issue at the heart of the dispute.
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Lithuania triggered a rift in 2021 when it allowed Taiwan to open an office under the name “Taiwanese”, a designation Beijing viewed as support for the island’s statehood claims. Similar missions elsewhere in Europe typically use the name “Taipei”. Since mid-May, there have been no accredited Chinese diplomats in Lithuania.
President Gitanas Nausėda on Tuesday also cautioned that the initiative must be mutual. “I see no problem in improving relations with China… but you know, it’s like in a family, there has to be a mutual wish,” he told reporters. “At the moment, we are seeing a lack of signals from China that they are truly sincere in their willingness to improve relations.”
Deividas Matulionis, the president’s national security adviser, emphasised earlier in the day that a change in rhetoric did not mean Lithuania was backing down from its previous positions.
For now, Vilnius continues to await a response from Beijing on restoring ties, while reiterating that Taiwan’s mission will remain unchanged.
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