The Lithuanian government recently proposed a law amendment to prepare for sending business representatives to Taiwan. Pictured is Lithuanian Foreign Minister Linkevicius. (Photo source: Twitter)
While the European Union has been criticized for signing the European-China Investment Agreement with the Chinese Communist Party, Lithuania, a small EU country, has been in the spotlight for refusing to participate in the Communist Party of China-Central and Eastern European countries (also known as 17+1) video conference in February this year, and for amending the law to establish trade relations with Taiwan. Writing in Deutsche Welle on April 5, Konstantin Eggert, a columnist for Deutsche Welle on Russian affairs, said that Lithuania, which is willing to give up its material interests to defend its ideas in the face of increasingly assertive global intimidation tactics by the Chinese Communist regime, has set a rare example for Europe.
According to Egert’s analysis, Lithuania, a small Eastern European country that was annexed by the former Soviet Union in 1940, has gained cross-party support for a foreign policy based on anti-authoritarian principles while valuing NATO alliances, and wants to join the democratic coalition launched by the new U.S. administration to resist the Chinese Communist Party, a position that is instructive for other EU member states.
Lithuania, a small Eastern European country with a population of less than 3 million, has never concealed its determination to be on the front line of confrontation with Russia and Belarus. The country has been a staunch supporter of Russia’s bullying of Ukraine, providing political and diplomatic support to the Ukrainian government as well as training and medical care for Ukrainian military personnel, and Lithuania is a popular emigration destination for Russian dissidents.
The philosophy of Lithuania, which was annexed by the Soviet Union: Respect is earned by adhering to principles
Egert analyzed that Lithuania’s position stems from the lessons the country has learned from its history.
First, the country’s history of the Soviet annexation of Latvia and Estonia in the early 20th century led it to conclude that to earn respect when dealing with authoritarian regimes, one must stand by one’s principles and be prepared to make sacrifices for one’s ideas.
Secondly, in dealing with Russia, which was sanctioned by the international community, Lithuania realized that there is no need to fear reprisals from authoritarian regimes.
Since Russia was sanctioned by the international community for its annexation of Crimea in Ukraine in 2014, it has refused to import food from EU countries out of retaliation, but Lithuania has found that its exporters’ profits have not suffered as a result of the retaliation, but on the contrary, they have established new trade relations and developed better as they were forced to find new markets.
Therefore, although the Lithuanian government expects that its pursuit of trade relations with Taiwan may be subject to retaliation by the Chinese Communist Party, it sees no need to fear trade retaliation by the Chinese Communist Party on this issue.
Once again, Lithuania values its transatlantic alliance more than anything else. According to Egert, the Lithuanian government also made this decision because it believes that the transatlantic alliance is far more important than the country’s relationship with the CCP and is willing to accept challenges from the CCP in order to maintain the transatlantic alliance.
It is for these reasons, concludes Egert, that Lithuania’s willingness to confront the increasingly assertive global intimidation tactics of the CCP and to forgo material interests in order to guard its ideas sets an example for the rest of the EU, which also needs to make its position clear in the face of the CCP’s challenge.
Lithuania is a Baltic country, a member of NATO and the European Union, a high-income economy and one of the countries with a high UN Human Development Index.
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